


The Boy on the Bike

by SereneCalamity



Category: Archie Comics, Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Background Relationships, Bartender!Veronica, Bestfriends Betty and Kevin, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Kissing, Mechanic!Jughead, bughead - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2018-09-30 04:28:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 47,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10153664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SereneCalamity/pseuds/SereneCalamity
Summary: Betty dropped out of University after the pressure of living up to her parents expectations gets too much. She moves to LA with Kevin, where she meets Jughead, a man who never looked like he smiled and who rode a motorbike, and is definitely not the kind of guy that she ever thought she would fall for. Bughead.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! So, my first Riverdale story. I hope you all enjoy!  
> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.

"This is a bad idea," Elizabeth 'Betty' Cooper began for the umpteenth time as Kevin Keller dragged her down the well-lit, busy street. "What am I _doing_? Kev—I think I've made a big mistake, I need to go back to your place, I need to think this through, and I need to—I think maybe I need to call my parents," she was rambling, and Kevin was letting her do it, because everything she was saying, she had already said a hundred times over the past three days. "Yup, I'm going to call my parents, and I'm going to say I'm sorry, and it's going to be super shit for a couple of months, but hey—they're my parents and they love me, right? So they'll get over it. And I can get back into school and—"

"Betty!" Kevin finally cut her off and gripped her arm, stopping her from walking. She hadn't even realized that she had picked up the pace and started walking so fast she was almost about to break out in a job despite the five inch heels that Kevin had strapped her into. "Betty, first of all—breathe. Let's breathe, okay?" Kevin raised his eyebrows at her, his high-strung friend looking as though she had taken something orally with her wide eyed, panicked expression. "First of all, this is a great idea. And you know how I know that?"

"How?"

"Because it was _my_ idea," Kevin grinned as he got the tiniest of smiles from the blonde. "Second, you haven't made a mistake. This is one of the best and biggest decisions that you've ever made, because it's one that you made for _you_ , not anyone else. And _third_ , you're definitely not going to call your parents—or at least, you're not going to call them tonight. You've held out for three days now, and you can hold out a fourth." Betty sighed, rolling her eyes upward to the Los Angeles sky that was sprinkled with stars above her.

"Fine," she conceeded. "But can we just stay for an hour or so? I need to get a good nights sleep tonight so I can focus on what I'm doing next tomorrow."

"No," Kevin shook his head. "We're going to stay for _hours_ , and I'm going to introduce you to Ronnie and her boy toy Archie and his boy Jughead, and we're going to get you drunk and maybe even get you laid—"

" _Kevin_!" Betty exclaimed, her cheeks flushing pink at the implication, but he just smirked.

"Come on," he encouraged, dropping his hand from where it was wrapped around her wrist to her hand, twining their fingers together. Betty had been practicing walking in the high heels that Kevin had given her so she was managing to walk without wobbling all over the place, and she was wearing a tight green dress that was far more revealing that anything else she had ever worn before. She was pretty sure all of these belonged to the 'Ronnie' that Kevin had just mentioned. There wasn't much of a line at the club, and Kevin covered both of their fee at the door. After flashing their ID's, they disappeared inside, Betty holding on tightly to Kevin's hand was they were enveloped initially with darkness.

She had never been in a nightclub before.

She was twenty-two and she had never been in a nightclub.

She had been drunk, but only on wine coolers and those girly pink drinks.

And as for getting laid—there had only been two men who had ever done _that_. The high school boyfriend who she now knew was the most boring person in the entire universe, who worked afternoons with her parents after school, who she dated for two years until she finished high school. And then the guy that she had gone out with for almost eighteen months in University—also boring, someone that her parents completely approved of, and who turned out to be far more interested in their Journalism TA than her. She wasn't too sure what the big drama around sex was, because every run in she ever had was boring, sometimes to the point where it was bordering on her falling asleep.

"Holy shit," Betty whistled as they emerged from the dark hallway and came out in the nightclub. From where they were standing, there were steps leading upward to a higher platform that circled around the top of the club where there were people dancing, girls wearing outfits that made Betty's dress look like something worn by a church-goer, drinks in their hands. On the left there were a couple of steps leading downward, opening up to the main floor of the club. There was a long bar that had blue LED lights running along it on onside, the middle looked like it was a mosh pit filled with people and then there were booths and high bartstools along the other wall. "Oh, god. No, nope," she started shaking her head and trying to step back. "No, this is—"

"Come _on_ ," Kevin laughed and pulled her forward. Betty was bumped from side to side as Kevin tugged her through the crowd. She was pretty sure that someone groped her ass through the tight dress, but she was too scared to turn around and look for the person who did it, so she just moved a little faster, pressing against Kevin. They made it to the bar and somehow Kevin managed to wiggle his way in. "Ronnie!" Kevin called out. "Hey, Ronnie!" A beautiful, dark haired girl who was finishing off a shot for someone turned around and gave Kevin a blinding smile.

"Kev!" Veronica Lodge cried out as she took the cash from the customer and slid it into the till before coming over to where they were standing, ignoring a couple of the patrons. "And this must be Betty," Veronica grinned at the timid blonde, who managed a smile in return. "I love the dress, girl—looks better on you than it ever did on me." Betty was surprised by the genuine smile on Veronica's face, given girls who looked like her weren't usually the kind that gave her a second look. "First two on the house! Archie and Juggie are over in the back booth!" Veronica spun around to mix up a couple of drinks, pushing them across the bar and giving them a wink before she was sashaying away again to serve her next customer.

"Uh, what is this?" Betty asked as she picked up the blue drink and sniffed at it tentatively.

"It'll be good—promise," Kevin told her. "Ronnie knows what she's mixing." Betty still wasn't sure, but she took a sip and was surprised by how good it tasted—sweet, but not so sweet it was like syrup. "Come on, let's go join Archie and Jughead."

"Jughead?" Betty finally caught up with the name that Kevin had been saying and she frowned. "That's an...Interesting nickname." Kevin shrugged.

"Sounds like he's had it for years," he replied. "I've only known them since I came out here for college, but that's the only thing I've ever heard Archie or Ronnie call him—I don't even know his real name!" Kevin lead the way around the outside of the throng of dancing people, and Betty managed not to spill her drink as they dodged around drunk and dancing people and to the booths on the other side. There were a couple of high tables with barstools, and Kevin did a double-take with a gorgeous looking blonde man, and then they made it to the actual booths. "End table, here we go." There were two men in the booth, both with their backs to Kevin and Betty as they approached. "Archie! Jughead!" Kevin greeted them as he moved to take a seat in the opposite side of the booth.

"Hey, Kev," the red haired man gave him a wide smile and the man on the edge of the booth, wearing a leather jacket and a slouchy black beanie just raised an eyebrow, before looking back down at his phone.

"So this is my friend, Betty," Kevin waved his fingers at Betty, who was still lingering out of their view, nervous about sitting down. Kevin widened his eyes pointedly and patted the leather of the booth next to him. Betty took in a deep breath through her nose and walked over to sit down.

"Hi, Betty," the red haired man smiled wide at her as she sat down and she smiled politely back aat him. He was handsome, in a very cliched kind of way, with his pale skin and prominant cheek bones and straight white teeth. "I'm Archie. You just moved into town, right?"

"Yeah, a couple of days ago," Betty nodded, automatically sipping from her drink just as a way of distracting her from the fact that she seemed to be the centre of attention at the table. At least, for two of the males, because the dark haired man—must be the one called Jughead—was still staring at his phone, tapping his fingers across the screen. Archie Andrews opened his mouth as though he was about to say something else when a gorgeous red headed woman appeared at their table, her lips painted bright red and an almost lethal glint in her eye.

"Cheryl," Archie nodded at the woman.

"Ah, the friendly neighbourhood viper," Kevin smiled charmingly up at the red haired girl who pointedly ignored Kevin and directed her next words to Archie.

"Let's dance," Cheryl Blossom continued, no question in her voice. Archie didn't seem to mind, throwing back the rest of whatever it was in his glass and nodding at Jughead. The other man looked up at Cheryl with completely disinterest in his eyes before getting out of the booth so that Archie was able to get out. The two red heads disappeared into the throng of people, leaving just the three at the table.

"Drink up," Kevin encouraged Betty with a nudge of his eyebrows. "We're here to have fun and let loose, remember?" Betty cast a side look at her best friend before sucking in a deep breath and swallowing down over half of the blue drink, cringing as she tasted the alcohol. Kevin cheered and grinned, waving his hand, flagging down a waitress.

"Wait, no, I wasn't going to have more than one!" Betty protested as Kevin began to place the next order. Jughead looked up at her, through his dark eyelashes, and there was something in his eyes that made her stomach twist in a way that it hadn't before. She pressed her lips together and dropped her eyes to the table top, not protesting a second time as Kevin placed an order for her. A second drink was put down on the table in front of her, this one an orange colour, and she picked it up as soon as she finished her first drink.

After about twenty minutes, the blonde boy that they had passed earlier came by their table, making eyes at Kevin pointedly. Kevin murmured for Betty to get out of the booth, and she did, a little wobbly on her legs as Kevin told her that she would be safe here with Jughead. He also added that if she did decide to go out and find someone to have fun with, to make sure she had her phone on her so that he could use their Find a Friend app to track her. Betty knew that she wasn't going to leave this booth with anyone other than the people Kevin had told her were safe, but she just nodded so that he would leave with the pretty blonde boy.

Veronica came over to try and coax Jughead to dance, but he barely looked up from his phone. Archie also came over, Cheryl wrapped around his arm, and told the pair of them that he was leaving. It seemed so easy, the way they were just leaving together, the way Kevin had simply made _eye contact_ with a guy, and the pair of them were now wrapped around each other on the dance floor, tongue down one anothers throat.

"You want to get out of here?" Came a question from the other side of the table. Betty was so surprised that she almost choked on her last mouthful of her drink. She blinked at Jughead, who had put his phone away and was now looking across at her expectantly. It was the first time she had seen his face properly, and he was gorgeous—better looking than Archie with his Homecoming King looks.

"Uh," Betty blinked over at him and he arched an eyebrow at her.

"Well?" He asked. Betty looked onto the dance floor, where Kevin and the blonde looked as though they were about one step away from pulling each others clothes off, and remembered his comment to loosen up and have fun. She looked back at Jughead, someone that Kevin clearly trusted, and took in a shaky breath.

"Okay."


	2. Chapter 2

Betty woke up, her body aching a little, but in a good way. Her eyes felt sticky though, and she screwed up her nose as she lifted one of her hands to touch her eyelids and when she pulled them away, there was black make up shimmering on her fingertips. It was a bit weird, because she _never_ wore that much make up, especially dark coloured, she was always about a light brown or pink, and she would always take it off before she went to bed.

There was a muffled noise behind her and then the blankets shifted and the blondes eyes flashed open wide as she finally looked around the room that she was in.

 _Not_ Kevin's lounge, where she had been crashing the past couple of days.

And _not_ Kevin's room, where she had passed out crying one of the nights.

In fact, she had absolutely no idea where she was.

She was also naked.

There was a desk in the corner of the room, with a laptop and a couple of books piled high, and few shirts haphazardly folded and hanging off the edge of the desk. There was a leather jacket hanging off the corner of the chair at the desk, and underneath the chair were a pair of black boots. Betty sucked in a sharp breath as she managed to get up the courage to roll over—extremely carefully, so as not to disturb the person in the bed next to her—and her eyes went even comically wider.

A man.

She had slept with someone last night.

_What had she been thinking?_

Trying not to let her panic cloud her judgement, she rolled back over, skimming the room to find her clothes. There was her green dress on the ground—or, _Veronica's_ green dress— and she could see the strapless black bra that she had been wearing last night. She felt a little shaky as she tried to find her underwear, one hand going down between her thighs at the slightest of hopes that she still had them on.

She didn't.

Betty swallowed hard as she slid out of bed, gathering up her dress and bra. There was a cracked, blurry mirror sitting on top of the desk and she caught a glimpse of her face and the birds nest that her hair was in and she made a face. There was a beanie on the desk, and she snagged it up and underneath the beanie were her underwear. She breathed out a sigh of relief as she saw her phone and wallet on the desk as well. She walked out of the room, glancing around and hoping that her lover from last night didn't have any roommates that she was going to run into.

The house seemed completely quiet, and she dressed quickly, feeling even more exposed and stupid in the green dress that barely covered anything. She chewed down on her lips as she looked at her phone, and saw that she had over ten messages from Kevin.

_Where did you go?_

_Did YOU GET LAID?_

_Text me if you need a pick._

_HOLY SHIT! I just used the app and you're with JUGHEAD!_

_The rest of the texts were in similar fashion._

Jughead.

Right.

She slept with a guy called _Jughead_.

She would have started banging her head against the wall if she wasn't so worried about waking him up. Betty took in a couple of deep breaths, looking around the hallway to try and figure out which door would lead her outside. She decided to go to the end and it opened out to a small lounge. On the far side of the lounge there was a door, so she quickly walked over and opened it up, and was surprised when it opened to an open plan area, a winding, spiral stair case and what looked like a garage. And not just a normal garage, it looked like an actual work place.

Betty had no idea where her shoes were, but she wasn't going to be able to walk properly in them anyway, so she walked down the metal staircase, wincing every time it made a squeaking noise. When she finally got down to the bottom, she practically flew across the garage, dodging around two different cars and let herself out the back door, letting out a sigh of relief as she finally got outside. She dialed Kevin's number straight away, holding her phone to her ear as she looked around, trying to figure out where she was—not like she knew Los Angeles all that well anyway, except for the occasional visits that she had paid Kevin.

"Kevin? Kevin!" She cried as soon as he picked up. "I need you to pick me up."

"Ooh," Kevin sung out and she sighed, closing her eyes, knowing that there was going to be a full debrief of her night when he finally picked her up. "Yes? And where are you exactly?"

"I don't know where I am—you know I've got no clue about this city," Betty replied.

"Well, I meant more, like, _who_ are you with?" Kevin pressed, still singing _annoyingly_ in her ear.

"You know—" she let out another sigh. "You know who I was with, I saw your texts."

"But you didn't reply?" Kevin gave an exaggerated gasp. "I'm hurt."

"I literally just checked my phone—" Betty broke herself off and rubbed her hand over her face, looking around where she was standing, out in a back alley somewhere, so hopefully no one could see her looking trashy. "Kev, please come and get me."

"I'm already in my car, doll," Kevin replied easily. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Thanks," Betty breathed and hung up the call. She hoped that Jughead—she had slept with someone called _Jughead_?—was still fast asleep inside, because she didn't want to face him. A couple of images came back from the previous nights; the fact that he had a motorbike and had told her to wrap her arms around him. The fact he had spent so much time just kissing her, his hands on either side of her neck, his thumbs brushing over her cheeks. The fact that although he had barely said a word, his eyes had been worshiping her the entire time she was stretched out on his bed below him.

Betty took in another shaky breath, shifting from foot to foot, the gravel digging into the tender skin of her feet. She jumped at every little noise she heard, scared that the man inside had woken up and was coming down to see her. She didn't even know _why_ she was scared, because it wasn't as though he had done anything last night that she hadn't liked last night.

As everything came back to her, in hot waves that had her looking like a tomato in the back alley, she remembered something and looked down at her wrists.

Bruises.

In the shape of thumb prints.

"Oh, _shit_ ," Betty muttered weakly as she felt heat surge through her centre and she had to squeeze her thighs together to try and suppress the shiver that was threatening to run through her. She tipped her head back against the brick of the building behind her and hoped that Kevin was as close as he promised he was.

Kevin got there in his bright yellow Bug within the next couple of minutes, wiggling his eyebrows and sending her a lascivious smirk through the window as he waited for her to jog over and get in the passenger side.

"Wait!" Kevin's eyes went wide. "Where are the shoes?! Those are Ronnie's shoes, she's not gonna be happy if you've lost them somewhere between the club last night and his place."

"We can find them later, come _on_!" Betty shook his arm and looked forward pointedly.

"Those were some pretty expensive shoes..." Kevin cringed and looked toward the garage. Now that she was on the road, rather than hiding in the back alley, she could see the front. It was a workplace, like she thought, with _Jones' Garage_ scrawled in red, faded script at the top of the building.

"Look, they'll be in there, okay? I didn't take the shoes off just randomly, we were on the back of his bike anyway," she mumbled. "They'll be there, so you can just go back at some other time when I'm not with you...When I'm dying of embarrassment at the bottom of your shower..." Kevin laughed but seemed to decide that she was right, he could come back at a different time. He pulled away from the curb and began driving down the street. The silence lasted all of ten seconds before Kevin began wiggling around in his seat and giving Betty side looks.

"Sooooo...Tell me all about it," he smirked.

"There's nothing to tell," Betty sighed, looking out the window and attempting to ignore her best friend.

"The hickey's on your neck and the bruises on your arms tell a whole _other_ story," Kevin sounded positively gleeful as she reached across and poked Betty in the side. "I'm so proud of you! I'm guessing it was good, right? I mean, Jughead isn't really the type who kisses and tells, but the man looks experienced, right? And I know at least one girl that he's slept with who has gone out of her way to try and lure him back into her claws."

"Claws?" Betty raised an eyebrow.

"The red headed bitch who came over to Archie last night? Cheryl? She managed to catch him at a weak moment and now she tries to get him back by, I don't know, spreading her legs for every guy in town?" Kevin snorted. "She's a fun train wreck to watch, I'll give you that."

"Aren't...Aren't Archie and—Jughead—" that name sounded weird coming out of his mouth. "—Aren't they friends? Why would Archie sleep with someone he's slept with before?" Maybe it was a naive question, because if she was being completely honest, she had never hung around with people who were, well, as beautiful as Cheryl or Veronica or Archie or Jughead, the kind of people that went out clubbing and simply found it easy to talk to the opposite sex!

"Archie hasn't slept with Cheryl, at least as far as I know," Kevin shrugged as he indicated to turn down another street that Betty recognized as that they were near Kevin's house. "He dances with her and they hang out a bit, but I don't think they've slept together."

"They left together last night," Betty pointed out.

"Yes, except Cheryl is roommates with Ronnie. Ronnie and Archie have a thing. Sometimes when Cheryl gets drunk, Archie will take her home and then hang around until Ronnie is done with work," Kevin explained. The whole thing sounded pretty complicated, and Betty wasn't operating on enough sleep to process it all. "Anyway, stop trying to distract me. I want the details!" They pulled up outside Kevin's little, one bed-roomed home and he turned to pout at her.

"I'm not gonna give you a break down!" Betty protested. "I'm going to go inside, take a shower, and then I'm going to start looking for jobs online and forget that this ever happened." Kevin smirked and shook his head.

"Yeah, okay. Good luck with that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you beauties think :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to have Betty wear a baseball cap. Have you seen the photo's of her wearing a cap? Holy shit. She's a babe. LOL.

"What exactly was I supposed to do, Kev, just ignore her call?" Betty sighed as she walked back into the house from where she had been sitting on the back door step in the shade, going into the country. "Adults don't hide from phone calls from their parents."

"Uh, yeah they do," Kevin snorted. "I do it all the time."

"It's not the same thing, and you know it! Your dad calls you and bugs you about eating too much take out and the bad movies that you watch. My mum calls me and tells me I'm the biggest disappointment since she realized she wasn't going to be the first female president," Betty pulled orange juice out of the fridge and propped her phone between her ear and her shoulder as she found a glass and filled it with juice.

"Another good reason to ignore her, she's always dragging you down," Kevin responded. "Anyway, I know the exact thing that'll cheer you up."

"I can't leave house right now, Kevin, you know I'm trying to find a job," Betty replied.

"That's true, but you've barely left that laptop for the past week, so it's time for you to have a break. _Especially_ since the great Hurricane Alice has ruined your day," Kevin cajoled. "Anyway, be ready to leave the house in about half an hour." Betty opened her mouth to disagree, but her best friend had already hung up the call. She rolled her eyes and tossed her phone onto the bench before finishing off the orange juice in her glass. She wasn't too sure what Kevin had in mind, since he was meant to be working for at least another couple of hours, but she dutifully changed out of the sweatpants that she had been in and the oversized shirt that she had stolen from one of Kevin's drawers. Her hair was kind stringy and messy, so she shoved a baseball cap over her head and was considering putting on a light layer of makeup when there was a knock at the front door. Betty frowned as she walked to the front of the house and opened the door.

"Oh," Betty's eyes widened as she saw who was standing on the other side of the door.

"I heard you needed cheering up," Jughead stated, his expression unreadable, and he thrust a motorbike helmet into her arms, the same one she had clumsily put on the night she had gone home with him.

"I, uh—" Betty blinked at him, but the dark haired man had already turned around and was walking back toward his bike, that was parked in the driveway. "I—"

"You might want to take off that cute little cap of yours or it's going to get crushed by the helmet," Jughead said over his shoulder and Betty shifted the helmet to one hand and touched her fingers to the brim of the baseball cap she had put on. She was still frozen on the front doorstep when Jughead started up his motorbike. The sound for some reason got her moving, flicking the lock on the door and tugging it shut, walking down the steps to where Jughead was on his bike. She was more nervous that she had been the first time as she strapped on her helmet and swung a leg over her bike, putting her hands primly on Jugheads hips rather than tightly around his waist.

"Did Kevin call you?" Betty asked, although she already knew the answer. Of _course_ Kevin had called him, he had no other reason to show up here.

"He said that you needed some cheering up. Figured I was the best guy for the job," Jugheads voice was a little muffled from his bike helmet and he snapped down the visor as he revved the engine. Betty's eyes went wide behind the visor of her own helmet, and she was about to protest—did Kevin really just text Jughead to come over and have sex with her to make her feel better?! But then Jughead was accelerating out of the driveway and Betty's words got stuck in her throat and she lurched forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Jugheads waist and tucking her head in closely to his back. She thought she felt him chuckle but she ignored it.

She couldn't believe that she had gotten on the back of this bike while being drunk, or at least on her way to being drunk.

She was absolutely _petrified_.

The whole world seemed to be going by in a blur, and she heard a car toot it's horn at them as Jughead ducked in front of a car and then swerved around another. It got to the point where she actually felt nauseous, so she closed her eyes and just let her body sway whichever way the driver tipped his own.

But soon it seemed as though the noise of the city was fading, and she let her eyes open again, and she found that they were out on the open road. There were no cars in front of them and she couldn't hear any behind her—although she wasn't going to turn around and look, she didn't quite feel confident enough for that. They were on a highway, and the ocean was stretching out on one side, down a craggy cliff, with the cliff continuing upward on her other side, the road cut into the side. It was a gorgeous view, and she felt herself loosening up a little bit as Jughead drove expertly, and she took in a deep breath, the salty air of the ocean filling her nostrils.

He slowed down after what felt like hours but it had probably only been about thirty minutes, and Betty carefully inched upwards to look over his shoulder, and saw that they were approaching a look out. He slowed right to a stop, beside the metal barrier, and put his foot down to balance the bike. Betty felt shaky as she put a foot on the ground as well, and she stumbled a few steps when she swung her other leg over, standing up. Jughead reached out with a hand, wrapping it around Betty's wrist and steadying her, and she attempted a smile back at him. He waited until she was solid on her feet before letting her wrist go and then getting off the back of the bike as well. Betty took the helmet off her head, and pulled the baseball cap out of her back pocket where she had hastily shoved it, slapping it onto her head to protect her eyes from the rays of sun beating down.

Maybe also a little bit to cover up her hair, which was completely matted against her head now from the helmet.

"Friends, family or job?" Jughead stated, his voice low as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and walked forward to the metal barrier.

"Huh?" Betty blinked at him.

"When people are in a bad mood, it generally comes down to three things. Friends, family or job. I was asking which one," he replied, and then he swung one of his legs over the metal railing as he sat down on it. Betty eyed him nervously, his left foot scarily close to the edge of the cliff, and she kept a few feet between them.

"Uh, family," she responded.

"What happened?" Jughead asked, not looking at her, gazing out into the distance, toward the horizon. It made it feel better, actually, to not have eyes on her.

"Do you know why I moved here?" Betty asked, wondering how much he actually knew. From the vibe he gave off—from the club the first night that they had met and also now—he didn't seem like the type of guy who was all that interested in small talk and idle conversation. But then again, if he was friends with Kevin, that meant he probably had to listen to Kevin babble on at some point about things he didn't really care about.

"Kevin said you dropped out of University," Jughead told her, still not looking her way. "That you only had one semester left, but you hated the degree anyway."

"Something like that," Betty shrugged.

"Stupid move, if you ask me," he finally swung his eyes in the direction of the blonde, raising her eyebrows. Betty frowned, feeling her shoulders tense at the criticism.

"Well no one around here asked you," her words were terse.

"What I'm saying is, if you were doing it just to spite your parents, couldn't you have at least waited until you finished your degree? At least then you'd have something behind you rather than three years of wasted time," Jughead pointed out. "Kind of sounds as though you've screwed yourself more than them."

"Right," Betty twisted her mouth. "Well, as fun as this has been—taking educational advice from a man named _Jughead_ —I think that you should take me home now." How had she gone home with this guy? He sounded arrogant, talking about her life as though he knew her life story, and he had this blank expression on his face, as though he was completely uninterested in their conversation. But his eyebrows arched at her comeback, and his lips twitched, as though he wanted to smile at her.

"Scream," he murmured. Betty blinked.

"What?"

"Scream," he repeated, waving a hand out toward the ocean, to the waves that were crashing against the cliff below them, the seagulls that were circling, the wind that was whistling loudly over the blue seas. "There's no one around to hear or judge you," he continued. "Trust me, you'll feel better." Betty was still staring at him, her eyes even rounder than usual, the breeze picking up her long blonde hair that was escaping from underneath her cap. "Scream," he nodded out to the ocean.

Betty swallowed hard and took a step closer to the metal railing. She felt stupid even considering this idea, but part of it rang true. She guessed it was a bit like having a good cry—which was something that she did quite often after speaking with her mother—letting all her emotions out did tend to make her feel better.

So she opened her mouth and screamed, a little hesitantly, feeling the eyes of Jughead on her.

"You can do better than that," he encouraged when she stopped. "Come on." Betty couldn't help it, she let out an embarrassed laugh and then took in a breath before screaming again. And again, and again, and again.

And he was completely right. When her throat felt raw and hoarse, and her temples were hurting a little bit, she _did_ feel better. It felt as though the tension in her shoulders, that was curled up in the pit of her stomach, had eased, and she found herself laughing and shaking her head, grinning over at Jughead who was actually smiling back at her.

"Oh my god," Betty took the cap of her head and shook out her hair. "You were right." Jughead was still smiling as he got off the metal railing, standing next to her and reaching out for her hand. She was laughing, feeling _so incredibly lighter_ than she had an hour and a half ago when she had gotten off the phone for her mother. Jughead's fingers felt warm between hers, and she was surprised by the gesture, but that didn't stop her from kissing back when his lips suddenly covered hers.


	4. Chapter 4

As the pair drove back into the city, Betty's brain was scrambling as it tried to understand what was happening.

She had dropped out of University and moved halfway across the country.

She had slept with a man that she had only just met.

She had fought over and over again with her mother, which, in itself wasn't unusual, but she didn't usually go against what her parents wanted—definitely not to this extreme.

She then got on the back of a _motorcycle_ with said man and he had kissed her after she had screamed her lungs out.

And now they were heading back into the city, Betty's arms tight around his waist and her head resting againt his back, and she was trying to figure out what they were doing. Were they heading back to Jughead's place? Were they going to have sex again? Was she ready for that? If this was two weeks ago, she wouldn't have even been _considering_ it, because she wouldn't have thought that she was that kind of girl. Not that there was anything wrong with being confident enough to do that, she had always admired girls who were comfortable enough with their sexuality to just go up to a guy, but she had never been one of them.

Betty tried to follow the direction that they were heading in as they moved into more populated areas but she still didn't know the city and she had no idea where they were going. She felt more settled than she had when Jughead had first picked her up, she was nowhere near as angry, but she was starting to get panicked again, thinking about what was going to happen when he pulled his bike over. She assumed that when they stopped, they were going to be back at his place.

Then she started thinking about what she was wearing underneath her clothes—and she cringed as she realized that she was wearing a boring, white bra and a pair of blue underwear with little pandas printed over them.

Not the sexiest pair of undergarments she owned.

Would Jughead laugh?

Would he still want to have sex with her?

Did _she_ want to have sex with him?

The fact she was even thinking about getting back into bed without learning where the nickname Jughead came from or even what _age_ he was, maybe what his last name was—possibly Jones, if the name of the garage was anything to go by—had her freezing behind the dark haired man. She tensed, and he seemed to notice it, because he took one of his hands off a handle and reached down to give her wrist a quick squeeze. Maybe he thought that she was nervous about being on the bike, and was trying to reassure her. It was a sweet move, really...

Betty was so lost in her head that she didn't even realize that the motorbike was slowing down and that they were now in a residential neighborhood.

 _Kevin's_ neighborhood.

The blonde blinked in surprise as Jughead pulled into Kevin's driveway and stopped the motorbike, resting his foot on the ground to balance the bike. Betty looked around, and her legs felt unsteady once again as she swung her leg over the seat and planted both feet on the ground. The shakiness recovered a lot quicker than the first time, and she took off her helmet, putting her cap back on her head quickly before Jughead turned around to look at her, taking his own helmet off.

"Feeling better?" He asked, lifting an eyebrow. His own hair was flattened from the helmet, like Betty's, but while Betty's felt like it was sticking to her scalp in an extremely unattractive manner, Jughead looked unfairly pretty, a curl hanging down over his forehead. Betty's cheeks bled red at the thought, and she dropped her eyes, worried that he would be able to figure out exactly what she was thinking by seeing how bright her cheeks were glowing.

"I do," Betty nodded, fiddling with the brim of the cap before peeking up at Jughead through her eyelashes. The way that he was looking at her was almost gentle, and she couldn't help the way her heart skipped before she slid her eyes away. They didn't say anything for a few moments and then Jughead shifted the helmet in his hands.

"I should probably get back to work," he told her and Betty's eyes widened.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" She apologized. "I didn't even think—I mean, I thought that Kevin was going to come back from his work early when he told me to get ready to go out. I didn't even think about the fact you were going to have to leave your job," she winced and gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, since I left University and quit my job in New York, I've sort of left concept of time and the fact that people actually have jobs that they need to be at through the week."

"That's okay," Jughead said softly. "One of the perks of being your own boss."

"The garage where you live?" Betty asked without thinking, and then when the corner of Jughead's mouth pulled upward just ever so slightly in a smirk, and Betty realized that she was referencing the night they spent together. She went even redder and when she chanced another look at Jughead, he looked as though he was actually on the verge of smiling. But then he took in a breath and rubbed his hand over his face and nodded.

"It was my dad's place, before he left. I dropped out of school and took over," he answered.

"How old were you?" Betty asked without even thinking, and then cringed as she realized that she might be broaching unwelcome territory. It wasn't as though they even _knew_ each other. "Sorry, I don't mean to pry—"

"It's okay," Jughead gave a one shouldered shrug, but he looked away from her for the first time, as though he didn't want to meet her eyes as he spoke. "I was fifteen." Betty tried to keep her face neutral at the admission, but she couldn't help but feel surprised. She knew people dropped out of school, but the expensive high school that Betty had been sent to didn't really have any scandals. There were a couple of girls who had rumored to have gotten pregnant, but they disappeared for several months, and returned slim and with big smiles.

"I'm sorry," Betty offered quietly, not really knowing what to say.

"It is what it is," Jughead answered off-handedly. "Someone had to step up and look after my mum and sister while they were getting back on their feet." Betty's eyebrows raised at the admission, and she was trying to shape a response when Jughead looked back at her and jutted his chin forward. "Anyway, I need to be heading off. But if you ever need to blow off some steam or you just wanna go for a ride, let me know." Betty nodded, reaching out and handing the helmet back to Jughead. Their fingers brushed as he took the helmet from her, and for a moment, both of them were still. But then Jughead pulled back and Betty tried to cover up her disappointment by stepping away from the expensive looking motorbike. Jughead nodded at her, that curl that was hanging down bouncing slightly before he put on his helmet and his face was covered.

It wasn't until ten minutes later, when Betty was inside and running the shower that she realized she didn't have Jugheads number.

As she began washing her hair, her mind kept threatening to go back to the conversation she had had with her mother earlier, but she had felt so much better after the ride with Jughead, she didn't want Alice Cooper to ruin her good mood. She scrubbed her fingers over her scalp with the expensive jojaba shampoo that Kevin brought and then her thoughts started drifting from her current situation, this time not toward Alice, but toward the man that she had just been with.

He had kissed her.

They had actually kissed multiple times, if she was counting that night they had spent together in his flat above the garage, but this time it felt different. Those kisses were...Those were because they were going to have sex, and it was just all a means to an end, but the kiss today was something completely different. They were both sober, and even though Betty felt as though there was chemistry between them, it hadn't felt charged until he had leaned forward and put his lips on hers. It had been soft, and sweet, and it had completely caught it her off guard. His hands had reached up and cupped either side of her face and his thumb had touched her cheek bones and it had been so ridiculously cliche that it should make her laugh thinking back on it, but it just made her stomach feel all squiggly and tight.

The foam from the shampoo was spilling down over Betty's shoulders and down her back, but she was still thinking about the moment that she had shared with the boy on the bike, overlooking the ocean.

She touched the corner of her mouth, tracing her finger around the outline of her lips as she remembered back to the night at his apartment. She had been tipsy, but not drunk, and she had been completely caught up in the moment. Jughead was good looking, far better looking than the other two lovers she had had in the past, and he was knew and unknown, and she had no clue what to expect as she followed closely behind the Jughead as they left the club. When he had held out a helmet to her, she hadn't really processed what she was doing as she put it on and then got on the back of his bike without any other thought. She didn't really remember the ride back to his place, only that he smelt so good.

And then back at Jughead's place...Betty still couldn't remember where she ditched the shoes, and she didn't remember going up the winding stairs to his apartment, but she had noticed a couple of bruises on her shins after Kevin had brought her home so she was guessing she had stumbled as she had gone up. He laid her out on the bed and kissed her so gently, his lips brushing over her nose and her cheeks and her forehead. He had taken her apart slowly and thoroughly and it was the first time that she had orgasmed at someone elses hand—and multiple times as well—given neither of her previous boyfriends had even gotten her close and she always needed to finish herself.

The chiming of a text arriving on her phone, which was resting on the vanity unit, snapped her back to the present and her cheeks were burning as she clenched her thighs together, feeling the telling quiver of arousal. Betty quickly finished rinsing the shampoo out of her hair. She turned off the shower and got out, rubbing herself down with the fluffy blue towel that was on the warming rack. She picked up her phone, expecting it to either be her mother on another rampage, or Kevin checking in to see if she dropped her panties for Jughead again. But it was an unknown number and she smiled when she realized who it was.

_Kev gave me your number. Now you have mine if you want to use it._

If Betty let out a giggle and bounced on the balls of her feet a couple of times, there was no one around to call her on it.


	5. Chapter 5

"Juggie!" Veronica sung out as she stepped into the garage. There was an appreciative look sent in her direction by the one employee who was still there, and Veronica just shook her head at Reggie Mantle, who had been trying to charm his way into her pants since they were in high school. "Jug-gie!" Veronica repeated as her high heels clipped on the dirty concrete, making her way through the cluttered garage and to the tiny office at the back where Jughead was, chewing on the end of a pencil and staring at a mess of paperwork in front of him. "Hey, sweetie, you ignoring me?"

"If I say 'yes', will you go away?" Jughead asked in a flat voice, still not looking up at the raven haired girl in the doorway. Veronica's grin just stretched across her face and she shook her head, not at all put off by the man's rude demeanor. There wasn't another seat in the office, so she just perched on the corner of his desk, sitting on a couple of the papers that Jughead was looking at. He let out a heavy, long-suffering sigh through his nose before pulling the pencil out of his mouth and tossing it onto the desk, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest. "What are you doing here, Ronnie?"

"Well," Veronica began, her eyes sparkling. "I do want my green shoes back. You know, those ones that you liked so much on Ms Blondie the other night when you took her home?" Jughead's expression didn't change at all, but Veronica knew him better. "That blonde that you then went and took out the other day because she was feeling sad?" She pressed, and Jughead was still watching her flatly. "Come _oooooon_ , Juggie. Spill!"

"Nope," Jughead responded, picking his pencil back up and looking back down at the paper work in front of him.

"Jughead!" Veronica pleaded and he just shook his head resolutely. "Forsythe!" She used his full name and Jughead finally looked back up at her, narrowing his eyes at her and she just gave him a sweet smile. "I don't need the dark, dirty details. I want to know the pretty, fluffy stuff! Like, since when do you take a girl on your bike when it's not to get her in bed?"

"We're not going to have a discussion about our feelings and hold hands and eat sprinkle covered cupcakes," Jughead stated and rolled his eyes. "I slept with the girl, and then Kevin asked me to take her out because she had a fight with her mum, so I did. That's it. There's nothing else to talk about." Veronica stared at him, one of her eyebrows arching as she watched him scribble out a couple of orders. With most people, Veronica would just stare at them, hold her tongue, and eventually the other person would break and spill their guts. But Jughead was just as good as her as holding his tongue, and they would grow old and turn gray if she tried that approach with him.

"Okay, well, if she doesn't mean anything, Cheryl was asking about you again," Veronica switched tactics. "She was wondering if you wanted to come over for dinner this weekend. Archie's coming and we could do a double date sort of thing—"

"No," Jughead answered abruptly.

"We could lift the pressure, make it a group thing," Veronica's dark purple painted lips twisted upward. "We could invite Kevin and Josie...And Betty," she added with a sly look through her thick eyelashes. His hand, which had been moving across the paper, filling in his next weeks stock order by hand, froze and she knew that she had at least got his attention again. She paused for a few beats, waiting to see if he would rise and take the bait, and he finally grumbled under his breath and looked back up at her.

"I'm not interested in Cheryl," Jughead began, his voice quiet. "And you know that."

"But you _are_ interested in Betty?" Veronica smirked.

"I don't know how I feel about the girl—I don't even know her," Jughead responded.

"But you _want_ to get to know her," Veronica pressed and Jughead pressed his mouth into a thin line, and that was enough to tell Veronica all she needed. "Have you text her? Called her? Seen her since you took her out for a ride—no pun intended?" Jughead shook his head ever so slightly. "Aw, come on, Juggie. Look, even if you won't admit it, it's pretty clear that you like her. I mean, I was watching you guys in the club. You were acting like you weren't interested, but you kept looking at her. And you love your job—you barely ever take any time off work, and you definitely have never taken time off _for a girl_. Yet you had no problem taking time off for little Ms Blondie," she teased. Jughead licked his lips and rolled his head from side to side, the tension in his face and shoulders clear. Veronica backed off, reaching out and touching his arm lightly. "Alright, well, if you ever want to talk about it, then I'm always."

"I'm pretty sure I would rather talk to Reggie about my love life than you," Jughead snorted. "At least he won't bring it up and want to braid each others hair."

"That's because Reggie has less sense than Nicole Polizzi," Veronica remarked.

"Who?" Jughead screwed up his nose in confusion.

"Not relevant," she waved her hand to the side. "Anyway, what's important, is that I am more than willing to be your shoulder to cry on and the source of any advice that you need."

"Isn't that going against some kind of girl code? You know, coz you and Cheryl are so close you're practically sleeping together?" Jughead pointed out.

"Eh, I lied about the Cheryl part," Veronica shrugged. "I mean, yeah, she still wants to bang you and all, but she's not interested in anything more than that. I just said it because I wanted to see your reaction." She smirked and Jughead glowered at her. "Anyway, I wasn't kidding about my shoes. I really do want them back."

"They're upstairs, by the TV," Jughead replied with a jerk toward the winding metal staircase that lead up to his flat.

"Alright," she slid off the desk and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. "But remember what I said—it's kind of obvious you feel _something_ for this girl. And she seems sweet, Kevin clearly loves her, and I'm going out for dinner with them tomorrow night, so I'll get a chance to get to know her too. Don't just let her pass you by because you are too busy brooding and staring at her number on your phone." Jughead rolled his eyes again, but he reached out and gave her hand a quick squeeze of affection before she left the office. He heard her heels on the metal staircase as she headed up to his flat, and then turned back to the paper work in front of him.

He had been halfway through the orders for next week, which needed to be finished soon, when Veronica had interrupted him, and he had managed not to think about the blonde who had looked unfairly attractive with a baseball cap pulled over her messy hair.

Except now, thanks to Ms Veronica Lodge who never knew when to leave well enough alone, she was back at the at the front of his mind.

Jughead sighed, and leaned back in his office seat, looking up at the clock on the wall opposite him. It was just after five, so getting close to the time they would close up. He had three employee's, two of them had already left for the day since one had been feeling sick and the other had a girlfriend who was eight months pregnant and craving watermelon and peanut butter. That left just him and Reggie, and given for the past two hours, Reggie had been bragging about a girl and her sister that he had bouncing between, and Jughead had gotten fed up with it and gone into his office.

"Hey, Reggie!" Jughead shouted, getting up from his seat and leaning through the door. Reggie looked up from underneath the car hood that he had been working on. "You can clock out and leave!" Reggie touched two fingers to his forehead as a salute as he shut the hood of the car and made his way over to the metal sink in the corner. Jughead picked up his phone, opening up his contacts list and scrolling down to where Betty's name was. Kevin hadn't even _tried_ to cover up the fact that he blatantly wanted them to get to know each other a little better when he had called Jughead and practically _ordered_ him to get her out of the house and try to get her mind of her family. Most of the time, Jughead said 'no' when his friends tried to set him up with anyone, but this was a bit different. _Technically_ no one had set them up the first time.

A first time that he had enjoyed.

A lot.

He didn't even realize what he was doing until he was halfway through tapping out a text to the blonde, and when he _did_ realize what he was doing, he just keep ploughing ahead quickly, trying not to talk himself out of it before pressing send.

_Hi, Betty. Wondering if you were free this weekend. Saturday._

Jughead tried to focus back on the paper work in front of him, given it could take hours for Betty to respond—she might not even have her phone on her. But he only managed to get two more orders scratched into the sheet of paper before his phone vibrated, indicating a response.

_What time?_

He smiled and quickly replied.

_Around lunch, maybe?_

This time, he didn't even kid himself that he was going to try and do some more of his work while he waited for her reply. He held on tightly to his phone, staring at it as though it would make her type faster. When it vibrated, a smile broke out on his face. It was only a small smile, but given how rare Jughead actually smiled, it spoke volumes.

_I'm free._

_I'll pick you up at eleven._

Jughead's teeth pulled at his lower lip, trying not to admit to himself that he was smiling at his cellphone like some love struck teenager.


	6. Chapter 6

"So it's a date," Kevin smirked.

"No," Betty didn't even know why she was trying to argue. When Kevin got an idea in his head, he stuck with it, and to be perfectly honest, Betty was hoping that it was date. Which was why she had spent the last half an hour in the bathroom, staring at her reflection and wondering what she should do with her hair and what kind of make up she should wear. The first night her and Jughead had met, she had been wearing clothing and shoes that didn't belong to her, and Kevin had layered her eyes and lips with about three times the amount of make up that she would usually wear. The second time they had seen each other, she had been completely caught off guard, and he hadn't seemed to mind—given he had kissed her—but his face was hard to read. And now they were meeting for a third time...And, okay, maybe it _was_ a date, which just made her more nervous. "Okay, so, maybe it's a date—"

"I knew it!" Kevin crowed.

"I don't know!" Betty tried to shush him. "Look, I'm just—" she took in a deep breath. "What do I wear?" She sighed, giving in as Kevin grinned and left the bathroom to look in the suitcase that she had laying in the lounge. He threw things over his shoulder, muttering under his breath, probably completely unimpressed by her soft, pastel coloured clothing. "I know, it's not exactly the kind of stuff that he's probably used to the girls he takes out wearing." Kevin's smile dropped and he sent a narrow eyed look in her direction before going back to the clothing. Finally, he pulled out a pair of denim shorts and tossed them in her direction, along with an oversized black and grey button up plaid shirt, to go over the black tank top she was wearing.

"Wear those with a pair of flat shoes. Don't overdo the make up, just your normal stuff," Kevin told her. "You're adorable, and you're sexy, and you're incredible without trying to be someone else." Kevin seemed to be voicing all of her concerns. "And he would be lucky to have you without you needing to doll yourself up." Betty's shoulders slumped slightly, and the frown lines on her forehead relaxed.

"Thank you," she murmured, picking up the clothes he had thrown at her, coming over to lean down and kiss Kevin on the forehead before going back to the bathroom. She got changed, leaving the top couple of buttons undone and brushed her teeth. She put on foundation, and a little bit of blush and eyeliner, staring at her reflection in the mirror as she thought about what to do with her hair.

The ponytail was her go-to. When she was a little girl, she had always wanted to try braids or pig tails or even letting her hair go free, flowing down her back. But her mother had always said that they weren't practical, tugging her hair back into a simple pony tail and pulling it so tight that it used to make her eyes water. It had then always just been habit, having it in a ponytail. Betty licked her lips and pulled a brush through her hair. She was twisting it into a French plait when there was a knock at the front door and she heard Kevin talking to someone.

To Jughead.

"Shit," Betty hissed through her teeth as she quickly finished off the plait and twisted her head from side to side to make sure that all of her hair was pulled back from her face. She didn't look bad, she decided, but she still looking...Plain. Boring. Like dependable ol' Betty. Nothing like the girl who had been in the daring, green dress when she first met Jughead. And if this was a date, maybe that was what he was expecting—

"Betty!" Came Kevin's shout, breaking through her rambling train of thoughts and eviscerating any escape plan that she was thinking of. Betty stepped out of the bathroom, hoping that she her cheeks weren't as flushed as they felt. Jughead shifted his gaze toward her, appraising her quickly before giving her a soft expression and tipping his head toward the door.

"You ready?" He asked simply.

"Y-yeah," Betty nodded her head quickly, grabbing her wallet and the spare set of keys that Kevin had gotten cut for her, and crossing the room to Jughead.

"Don't stay out too late, kids," Kevin sung out as he watched them go, skipping down the steps toward Jughead's bike that was parked in the driveway. "And don't do anything I wouldn't do!" He paused, sticking out his lower lip as they reached the motorbike and Betty looked over her shoulder to wave him farewell. "Actually, on second thoughts—I'd do everything, so...Have all the fun, do all the things!" Betty narrowed her eyes, and her wave turned into her pulling the fingers, which Kevin lovingly returned. Jughead glanced between them as he handed his spare helmet to Betty, an amused expression on his face, before he swung a leg over the seat of his bike.

"Ready?" He grunted at Betty. She climbed on the bike behind Jughead and wrapped her arms around her waist. After a moment of hesitation, she leaned forward and pressed her torso against Jughead's back. Kevin tilted his head to the side as he studied the pair of them—the sardonic, dark haired man with the sweet, blonde haired woman. They were complete opposites, and yet he was definitely rooting for the pair of them to actually make it work, or at least, manage to stay friends.

Betty felt another surge of adrenaline as Jughead's took his foot off the ground and then they were surging forward on the bike. They sped out of Kevin's driveway and down the road. She had gotten more used to the neighbourhood, and with the visor flicked down on the helmet, she vaguely knew where they were for a couple of blocks, until they started heading into the city, and then she completely lost track of where they were. They had been driving for nearly twenty minutes before they finally started slowing down, and Betty's legs were stinging from the wind whipping at them. Actually, they were nearly numb, so really, it was okay.

"You good?" Jughead's lips twitched in the corners as she wobbled on her legs as she got off the bike.

"Yeah," Betty let out a laugh. "Does it always feel so...Weird landing back on solid ground after getting off your bike?"

"The shaky legs go away after the first couple of times," Jughead said knowingly. "We'll get you used to her." He stroked his bike lovingly before he strapped both of their helmets to the back and then held out an arm toward the sidewalk, where people were gathered and walking. Betty nodded and went in the direction that he was pointing, one of her hands absently going up to her hair and hoping that the braid she had put it into had stopped her hair from looking too flat from the helmet. She could hear the waves of the ocean, and as they reached the sidewalk and managed to get through a horde of people, she saw that they were quite close to the beach, actually—the only thing separating them from the sand and the ocean was twenty-five or thirty stalls that were sprawling out on the other side of the handrail.

"Is it like a market day or something?" Betty asked as she saw people milling around each of the stalls, trying to make out what the stalls were for.

"Yup," Jughead nodded, getting jostled by a couple of people as he stood still in the path of the moving crowd. "Come on," he held out his hand to her, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. The skin of his palm was rough, but it was warm, and it felt good, his fingers sliding between hers and giving her hand a tug to pull her forward, along the walkway. Betty ducked her head, letting him lead the way, grinning stupidly at the ground as they reached the end of the sidewalk and started down the concrete steps toward the stalls on the beach front.

Back in her small home of Riverdale, there used to be farmers markets outside the church every couple of weekends, that would sell home made jams and cakes and home grown fruit and vegetables. They were all very boring, and Betty and Polly used to sit behind the stall that their mother would help them run and make fun of the cookie cutter husbands and wives that milled around the stalls.

Then in New York, when she had been going to University, there had been a couple of times that she had been dragged to the markets on the boardwalk, and they had been awesome, but she had just wanted to get back to her dorm to study.

But now, she was completely free to enjoy herself, to breathe in the fresh air and just let go.

"I used to come here with my little sister," Jughead commented as they reached the bottom of the stairs and came to the front of the aisle that split the long line of stalls in half. "I would give her ten dollars to spend and tell her that was it, and she would still manage to twist my arm and get me to give her more." Betty smiled and looked over at Jughead, flexing her fingers and tightening her grip on his hand reflexively.

"How old was your sister?" Betty asked.

"I think I brought her here until she was about fourteen, when she decided that she was too cool to be seen with her brother," Jughead pouted slightly, as though upset by the comment, but Betty could only see affection on his face. "Her and my mum moved to San Diego a couple of years ago, and she's in her first year of college now. It's pretty crazy, coz I still remember her being three years old and she was _so annoying_ because she kept eating my shoe laces and following me around the house." Betty was staring at him, completely taken aback by the amount of conversation that Jughead had just spouted.

"What's her name?" Betty prompted, hoping to keep him going.

"Jellybean," Jughead responded, and he properly smiled for only the second time since she had met him, and it made her stomach do stupid flip flops. "But she likes to go by JB—thinks it sounds cooler."

"Jellybean...Jughead," Betty laughed and shook her head. "What are your _real_ names?"

"Oh, that's a fifth date conversation," Jughead responded with a quirk of his eyebrow, his lips relaxing back into a small smirk.

"You think you're getting all the way to a fifth date, do you?" Betty tried to sound coy, but who was she really kidding? Of _course_ he was going to get to a fifth date with her. Hopefully a _fiftieth_ date. From the way Jughead looked back at her, he already knew that, and then he nodded his head to the first stall, which looked as though it was selling all kinds of funky and colourful looking jewelry.

"Shall we?" He asked.

"We shall," Betty responded, not caring if she sounded dorky, and skipped toward the first stall.


	7. Chapter 7

"This place is amazing," Betty grinned and swung her legs back and forth on the retaining wall that her and Jughead had sat down on to eat. She stabbed the nacho chip into the mixture of mince, beans and sour cream, shoving the whole thing into her mouth, and Jughead almost let out a laugh at her enthusiastic eating style but he managed to stop himself. "And this food is amazing, I'm so done with Kevin and his clean eating style. I feel like I've been eating rabbit food the past couple of weeks."

"Good thing I didn't suggest we share," Jughead commented wryly, Betty almost completely finished the cardboard carton that she had in front of her.

"Yeah, good thing," Betty muttered as she scooped up the last of her nacho mix and pushed it into her mouth. Jughead stared down at his food, which was only half gone. Considering how much he loved food, he really wasn't one to share, but Betty looked as though she was only a step away from licking the cardboard for the leftover sauce, so he held out his carton to her. "Oh, no, it's okay. You finish yours," the blonde tried to say.

"Just take it, I'll go get another one," Jughead raised an eyebrow as he pushed it closer to her. Betty hesitated for a moment more, but then accepted it with a guilty looking smile. "Gotta love a girl with an appetite," he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek before pushing himself off the retaining wall and making his way back to the crowded market place. The food was _amazing_ —and it had been cheap as well, Betty had refused to let Jughead pay for her meal. But before starting on the food that Jughead had given her, she lifted her hand to her cheek, where he had just kissed her.

It had been so flippant and casual, and she really hoped that he was going to do it again. And again, and again.

The market was busy, flooded with all kinds of people who were laughing and shouting, couples with their arms linked together or parents with children, who were screaming and winding their way through the legs of the adults in the crowd. It was all so colourful and cheerful, and then when Betty turned around to look forward again, it was the ocean. The sand was gorgeous, white and warm, and then the ocean was calm, not a single wave in sight. She preferred it when there were waves coming in, but with the water being flat today, it meant that there kids in the water, and there was even a dog that was splashing through the shallow waters.

"Hey," Jughead greeted her as he came back, hopping up so that he was sitting on the retaining wall next to Betty. She smiled at him as she scooped up more the nacho chips, chewing and swallowing before noticed that his hands were empty.

"Where's your food?" She asked with a frown.

"I'll grab something later," Jughead shrugged. "I got you this," he reached into the pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out a small white paper bag that had been folded over. His voice had been a little gruff, as though he was embarrassed, and Betty put down the almost finished carton of nachos and took the paper bag from him.

"What's this?" Betty asked as she turned it over and slid her finger under the sello-tape that was keeping the top of the bag closed. Jughead wasn't looking at her, hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket as he looked out toward the beach, his beanie pulled down over his forehead, close to his eyebrows. She pulled up the sello-tape and looked inside the bag, her eyes widening as she saw what was inside, looking back up at Jughead with a surprised expression on her face.

"Saw you looking at them before," Jughead muttered. "I'm guessing you didn't buy them because you're still looking for a job and not wanting to spend too much cash." That was _exactly_ the reason why Betty hadn't spent money on the array of bracelets that one of the woman had been selling at her stall. There had been thousands of bracelets spread out over the table, skinny ones, thicker ones with jewels hanging off them, ones with braided fabrics. They had been gorgeous and not particularly expensive, but Betty had already known that she was going to be spending money on lunch and so she hadn't wanted to spend money on anything else.

"You have good taste," Betty noted shyly as she pulled the six bracelets he had chosen out of the bag, all different colours and styles, but all of them going together well.

"Well, when you hang out with Ronnie and Cheryl you pick up a little bit of fashion sense," Jughead shrugged. "Although they certainly don't think so. They're always trying to get me to wear different clothes and steal my fucking beanies," he snorted and rolled his eyes, but there was a small smile on his face.

"I like your beanies," Betty leaned over and nudged him in the side with her elbow. Jughead let his lips twitch upward in the corners in a smile as Betty slid the bracelets onto her arm, letting them jangle together on her wrist. "Thank you," she told him sincerely. "I love them."

"They look good on you," Jughead told her. He gazed at her, his eyes intense, and Betty knew that her cheeks were burning as she bit down on her bottom lip, trying to stop herself from turning the colour of a tomato. She quickly turned her eyes back out to the ocean, swallowing hard as she picked up the carton again and resumed eating.

"I think you should bring me back here, but _tell_ me we're coming to the beach next time," Betty chided him with a grin. "I'll bring my bathing suit. It's been forever since I've gone swimming in anything other than the University pool." Jughead nodded, and he finally shifted his eyes from her, but she could still feel the burn of his gaze over her skin. It made her shift on the wall they were sitting on, not feeling uncomfortable by the attention, but feeling... _Something_. Heated. Leaving goosebumps over her skin and making the short hairs on her neck stand up.

"So, uh, how did you meet Kevin?" Jughead asked. He liked hearing her talk, she was so bubbly and full of life, and he wanted to learn more about her.

"We met at school," Betty answered between mouthfuls, the bangles on her wrists jangling together as they slid down her arm. "I think I was about seven, so he would have been nine. These kids were making fun of me because I had tried to cut my fringe," she cringed and let out a laugh. "Cut it myself, so of course, it was terrible. He stood up for me, and kind of became my protector until I realized that I could speak up for myself without getting in trouble every time I opened my mouth." Jughead frowned at the way that she phrased it. "I wanted to come here, after I finished high school, I wanted to study here so that I could go to University and be close to Kevin," she pursed her lips together as she finished off the rest of the nachos and crushed the container.

"Your parents didn't want you to?" Jughead guessed quietly.

"Yeah," Betty shrugged a shoulder, scrunching up her nose slightly.

"Is that why you cut your hair?" Jughead asked, looking back at the blonde next to him. "When you were seven, when you met Kevin?" Betty shrugged again.

"Yeah," she replied. "They—well, mainly my mum—made me keep my hair long, exactly like Polly's—she's my older sister. A bunch of other girls in my year were all getting bangs, and I thought they looked cool, but mum said I couldn't. So I did it myself," she grinned. "Mum was so pissed, I can still remember her face now. Polly was just laughing, and when mum grounded me, she smuggled me in food."

"So you get on with your sister?" Jughead murmured, still watching her.

"Polly is amazing," Betty smiled, although it was a little sadly. "She was the perfect child, though, so everything I do pretty much has to live up to the standards that she set. It's not her fault, mum and dad put a lot of pressure on. It was a lot to try and deal with growing up, so I was lucky I had someone like Kevin who was removed from my home life situation." There was a wistfulness to her tone that Jughead didn't really like. From what he had heard from Kevin, and also just from the small things Betty had said, it didn't sound as though she had had the best childhood. Not that her parents were abusive or didn't love her, but it seemed as though they didn't even try to understand her, or let her be her own person. "Hey," Betty's smile shifted, directed straight at him rather than just ahead. "You look sad."

"Just don't like the idea of you feeling like you can't be happy," he admitted with a shrug of his own. It was a cheesy line, when she repeated it back in her head, but it hadn't _sounded_ cheesy coming from Jughead. It sounded as though he completely meant it.

"Alright, well, how about I tell you my favourite movie instead? That makes me happy," she grinned. She didn't expect him to look all that interested, but he nodded before cringing.

"Please tell me it's not some chick flick," Jughead looked pained. "Because I'm really trying to get to know you better and I'm totally gonna be down for movie nights, but I've been forced to sit through so many chick flicks with Ronnie and Cheryl, I really don't know if I can do that to myself." Betty laughed and shook her head.

"Nope," she replied, wiggling around on the concrete wall, grinning widely. It made her eyes glow and her hair was bouncing around her shoulders and she looked so precious that Jughead was tempted to just lean in and kiss her. "It's Spirit."

" _Spirit_?" Jughead frowned slightly.

"Yes! _Spirit_! Oh my god," she actually looked concerned for a moment. "You know, the animated one with the horse and—"

"The kids movie?" Jughead questioned.

"Yes! Don't even think to judge me," Betty gave him a playful, daring look. "Because that movie always makes me feel better. When I'm sick or I'm having a shitty day, that movie is my go to. I fucking love it—know every single word, and I _have_ to sing along to all the songs!" It was adorable, because Jughead could completely imagine that, the petite blonde swaying on her couch and belting out the soundtrack.

They talked for hours, until after the stalls had all been packed away, most of the people were out of the water and the sun was getting lower in the sky. Betty really didn't want this to be over, especially since she wasn't even close to finished teasing Jughead about the fact that he had memorized every line to the _High School Musical_ soundtrack because of watching it so often with his little sister, but when she shivered, Jughead jumped off the retaining wall.

"Come on," he said. "We better get you home before you freeze." He shrugged out of his leather jacket and put it around Betty's shoulders. She slid her arms through the sleeves, subtly taking in a sniff of his scent. Jughead took her hand, and they walked back up the path, up the steps and toward where his bike was parked. Jughead got on first, holding out the helmet to Betty. She took it from him, turning it over in her hands and taking in a deep breath, trying to ignore the way her chest was fluttering nervously. "You alright?" Jughead asked, his eyebrows pulling together.

"We could go back to your place?" Betty blurted out. Jughead looked surprised, but definitely not opposed to the idea.

"We could..." he said slowly, as though giving her a chance to back out if she wanted to. The implication of what they would be doing back at his place hung heavy in the air, but Betty just nodded her head determinedly, a little wrinkle of concentration between her eyebrows.

"I want to," she said, shoving the helmet over her head and getting on the bike, wrapping her arms around his middle.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys!  
> Sorry about the delay in updating. Just with work and life, updates will be monthly for the foreseeable future :)

Jughead looked almost worried when they got up to his flat above the garage, and he waited by the front door as Betty kicked off her shoes and clenched then unclenched her hands at her side as she faced away from him.

"We can always just watch a movie," Jughead said to her quietly, trying to get her to relax. "I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find _Spirit_ on Netflix," he added to lighten the mood. Betty turned around and flashed an anxious smile in his direction.

"No, I want to...Go to your room," Betty replied. Jughead tilted his head to the side as he regarded her.

"Why do I get the feeling that the other night was kind of a one off for you?" He asked. His tone wasn't nasty or teasing, just curious. Betty seemed to realized that, and she licked her lips nervously.

"It was," she admitted quietly. "I've only slept with two guys before you. Uh, a high school boyfriend and then another boyfriend over a year ago." Jughead had gathered that she was inexperienced but he hadn't quite been expecting there to only be two guys before him. He was quiet as he thought about it, and Betty seemed to think that that was a bad thing. "Not that I'm expecting for you to be my, uh, boyfriend or anything, just, uh...That's who it happened to be," she fell silent again and Jughead shook his head as he came over to her.

"There wouldn't be anything bad about being your boyfriend," he assured her, pressing a soft kiss to her mouth before nodding over her shoulder to his bedroom. Betty felt a little better at that, and she led the way to the bedroom that she had been in just a few weeks before. At least the curtains in his room were pulled, and the sun was going down outside, so she didn't feel completely exposed as Jughead followed her into the room. She tried to swallow down her nerves as she fingered the zipper of his leather jacket that she was still wearing. The room was a little messy, just like the first time that she had been there, but the clothes that were piled on the chair were folded, and she was surprised to see that rather than magazines or comics, it was actual books that were falling out of the shelf in the corner of the room. Jughead left the door open, and went over to the corner of the room, toeing off his shoes and socks before looking over at her.

Betty chewed down on her lower lip nervously, taking off the leather jacket before she could second guess herself, and tossing it toward the desk, where it fell over the laptop. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jughead take off his beanie and put it down on the desk as well, running his fingers through his shaggy, dark hair. Her fingers went to the buttons of the plaid shirt she was wearing when Jughead stepped closer to her and put his hand over hers. Betty kept her eyes lowered, eyelashes fluttering against her cheeks as Jughead took over, slowly undoing the buttons of her shirt. When they were all undone, the shirt falling open and showing the dark purple bra that she was wearing.

"If you want to stop, then you tell me, okay?" Jughead said earnestly and Betty nodded, finally looking back up at him. The corner of Jughead's lip curved upwards, and then he leaned forward, bringing their lips together. It felt good to kiss him, and it definitely stopped her from freaking out so much, being distracted by Jughead's tongue curling around hers and tasting the inside of her mouth.

Her shirt fell to the ground, and she pulled at the hem of his own, the pair of them separating only long enough for her to jerk his shirt over his head and drop it to the floor before coming back for a kiss. His hands rested on her ass for a moment, rubbing at it through her shorts, sending a hot spike of arousal up her spine. His hands then shifted to the button and zip of her shorts, falling in a puddle at her feet.

Betty's lips were shining red from Jughead's kisses and her own nervous biting as she laid down on the bed, head resting on the pillow. Jughead crouched between her legs, still wearing his jeans, and he ran his hands up and down her legs. She couldn't help but twitch at the way his fingers trailed over her thighs and knees, making their way down to her ankles. She didn't even realize that her ankles had the possibility of making her pussy clench until his thumbs dug into the sensitive flesh before making their way back up her thighs. Jughead's eyes were soft as he looked at her, as though judging her mood, but there was a definite heat that was smoldering there, and that made her curl her toes.

"Just relax," Jughead murmured to her, hands reaching her hips, playing with the skinny band of her underwear. He ran his fingers over the front of her underwear, two fingers sliding down between the apex of her legs, pressing down ever so slightly over where her clit was, down to her hole, and she couldn't help but take in a shuddering breath. Jughead did it again, and again, just sliding his fingers up and down, over her slit, and she could feel the liquid beginning to gather and soak through the material, watching the flex of his inked arms as he touched her. She could seriously watch those tattooed arms for hours.

"Shit," Betty mumbled, wiggling her hips on the bed. She flexed her fingers in the bed, clenching the duvet covers, the heat building in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't sure if it was because she was so attracted to Jughead, physically and emotionally, or if it was because her body knew that he could actually give her what she needed, unlike Chris, her high school boyfriend, or Stephen, her college boyfriend. He was the first guy to ever actually make her come, and just from the soft touches now, she knew for certain that it was going to happen again.

"Lift your hips," Jughead said quietly, and she did so without thinking. It wasn't until the cooler air of the room hit her lower lips that she realized she was now almost completely naked in front of him. "And now your back," he seemed to see the realization on her face and decided not to let her sit there and get too embarrassed. Betty lifted her torso as best she could, and Jughead reached behind her, unhooking her bra, and throwing it over her shoulder, to join her underwear on the ground as well. "You're so fucking perfect," he breathed, reaching up to kiss her once on the mouth, his hips pressing against hers. The friction of the denim made her let out an unexpected pant, and he swiveled his hips against hers, making her gasp again. Jughead bit down on her lips before lowering himself, a couple of kisses to her chin, and then her neck, and then her chest. Betty couldn't help the blush on her cheeks as he took one of her nipples between his lips, his teeth scraping over it slightly as he sucked it into his mouth.

She lost track of time as he sucked on one breast, and then moved to the other, showing that one the same attention. Licking, biting lightly, sucking. There wasn't any friction between her legs anymore, given that he was now crouching over her, and from the way he had been laying between her legs, keeping them apart, was making the burning sensation worse. By the time Jughead pulled back, she was making short, aborted thrusts upward, trying to find some way to relieve the pressure that was building. She expected him to take off his jeans and find a condom, but then Jughead's hands slipped underneath her thighs, pulling them upwards. Betty's body felt both lax and tight, from how good it had felt to have his mouth on her, and how close—almost embarrassingly so—she was to orgasming.

Jughead moved her legs to how he wanted them, pushed wide apart and slightly upward, so that she was completely open to him. Betty's cheeks began to burn again as she realized that he was going to do.

She and her high school boyfriend had lost their virginity to each other, and really hadn't had much experience before they had started seeing each other. He had gone down on her a handful of times, but he really hadn't known what he was doing, and the whole thing had just been awkward and bumbling. The boyfriend she had at University had flat out refused to put his face between his legs, saying he found the whole thing degrading and unsanitary. She had never felt comfortable enough with her sexuality to push it, so she had just left it alone.

But Jughead was holding her legs wide apart and settling down on his knees as though he knew exactly what he wanted to do, and she didn't doubt that he knew exactly _what_ he was going to be doing. She caught a glimpse of the hard line of his cock in his jeans, and that made a shiver run through her.

To begin with, Jughead just let out a hot breath over her damp lower lips and Betty squirmed, gripping the covers again. At the first touch of his tongue—just flicking out gently over her clit—she reacted so violently she almost jerked him off the bed. Her whole face must have been red with embarrassment, but Jughead just pulled back long enough to shoot a smile up at her—not looking annoyed or pissed off at all—before he bent back down, and this time he didn't hold back.

"Holy fuck...Holy _fuck_!" Betty breathed out as Jughead closed his lips over her clit. He teased her clit for a few moments, playing with it with his tongue, before sliding his tongue further downwards, into her hole. " _Shit_ ," she gasped as his nose bumped against her clit, his tongue lapping at her. His hands moved, from under her thighs to under her ass, fingers pressing into the two globes of her ass, hauling it off the bed so it was presented to him. He curled his tongue inside her, alternating between pushing his tongue inside her pussy and then sliding his tongue upward and sucking on her clit.

Betty couldn't stop herself from gyrating her hips, thrusting upwards to meet his mouth. The first time she did it, she had frozen, thinking that maybe Jughead wouldn't like it. But he let out a throaty groan, and so she did it again. He moved his head from side to side, tongue swirling inside her, teeth scraping at her clit, over her lower lips. The knot that had been pulsing hot and tight in the pit of her stomach suddenly snapped, and she let out a cry.

"Oh my _god_!" Betty cried, tears gathered in the corners of her eyes as she felt her orgasm gush between her legs. Jughead didn't stop; still licking at her, still sucking at her clit, and it wasn't long before her second orgasm rushed through her. And then a third, and her legs were shaking, and her toes were curled to the point that her feet felt as though they were going to cramp, and she slapped her hand down weakly on his shoulder to get him to stop. Jughead pulled back, resting back on his knees and wiping his mouth and chin, which were damp from her juices. Betty took a few moments to get her breath back, and then opened her eyes to look at Jughead, who was just looking at her a small smile on his face. "Um..."

"You're gorgeous," Jughead murmured, stretching forward, careful not to put any pressure between her legs as he gave her a soft kiss on the mouth. Betty blushed for the umpteenth time and he nudged at her nose carefully. When her body stopped twitching, she reached for his belt, tugging on it tentatively. Jughead nodded, moving upwards from his position on all fours, giving her better access to his belt. Betty undone the buckle, leaving the belt open, and then undoing the button and zipper. Jughead got off the bed so that he could step out of his jeans and briefs. Betty sucked her lower lip into her mouth as his cock was on full display, and head was sticky with pre-cum. He grabbed a condom out of the bedside table, ripping open the packet and putting it on before crouching back between her legs.

It felt incredible as Jughead pushed into her. He completely filled her, touching her walls, and rolling his hips forward so that his pelvic bone was pressing down on her clit. Betty's arms went around his shoulders, one hand looping around his neck and pulling at the strands of hair that were curling there, the other hand holding onto his shoulder, her nails digging in. Jughead clearly wasn't just chasing after his own orgasm, rocking his hips back and forth, pushing into her deeply. Betty came one more time before Jughead picked up the pace, letting out a groan and burying his face in her neck when he emptied himself into the condom.


	9. Chapter 9

Betty woke slowly, to the light of the moon coming through the thin curtains beside the bed. She was thrown off balance for a moment, completely unaware of where she was, since she definitely wasn't on the couch in Kevin's lounge, or in Kevin's bed. Then there was a movement behind her, warm skin pressing against her naked back and curving around her ass, and she remembered exactly where she was.

"I wondered if you were going to wake up," Jughead mumbled, his voice rough behind her. Betty was embarrassed for a moment, wondering how long she had been asleep while he had been awake, and how long he had been watching her. It was warm in the room, so the blanket was pushed down around their waists, and their naked torso's were exposed. But Jughead then rolled her over so that she was on her back, and he leaned down and kissed her firmly on the mouth and all thoughts of embarrassment went out the window. He kissed her until her stomach let out an incredibly loud rumble and he pulled back, letting out a snort.

"Sorry," Betty felt her cheeks flare red.

"It's okay," Jughead said, climbing over her and getting off the bed. He looked around for his clothes, and then bent down and picked up a pair of briefs of the ground. Betty sucked her lower lip into her mouth at the way Jughead's ass looked as he leaned over, and quickly averted her eyes. Jughead grinned to himself and picked up his phone, looking at the time. "It's almost one in the morning, we've been asleep a while." No wonder she was hungry. "You want ice cream?"

"Ice cream?" Betty blinked in surprise.

"Yeah, ice cream," Jughead smirked. "So maybe I have boysenberry ice cream in the freezer for special occasions."

"Hey, I'm not judging _at all_ ," Betty replied with a grin. She pulled herself into a seated position and swung her legs over the edge of the bed so that her feet were flat on the ground. Jughead picked up her underwear and then grabbed one of his shirts from the towering, folded pile on the desk chair, tossing it in her direction before walking out of the room. Betty put on her underwear and slipped the shirt over her head before joining Jughead out in the lounge. He was getting the tub out of the freezer, two spoons already on the counter top. They settled on the couch, Jughead dragging down the thin throw blanket from the back of the couch and spreading it out over their legs before snapping off the lid of the tub.

"So," Jughead began as Betty dug her spoon into the ice cream. "Tell me to fuck off if you want to, but I just want to understand...Why did you leave University so close to graduating?" Betty gave him a small smile before shoving the ice cream into her mouth. She waited until it had melted over her tongue and slid down her throat before answering.

"Right, so, this time you want me to explain it, rather than just judging me straight off like you did when you took me out to that overlook?" Betty asked with raised eyebrows, Jughead just shrugged, not looking apologetic as he scooped up some ice cream. Betty sighed and tipped her body to the side, resting her head against the back of the couch. "I was doing a pre-law degree, and I was scared that if I finished it, then I would just get stuck doing the law degree and then I would never be able to get out. I would pass the bar, and I would move back to Riverdale, to take on mediocre cases, trapped in the same sort of life that my parents have, and I would marry some small-minded man that my mum would have set me up with. I'd have kids, who I would absolutely love, but I would probably put _way_ too much pressure on them to have the sort of life that I couldn't, that I'll end up pushing them away and they'll only ever call me on my birthday and Christmas." She had to stop to pull in a deep breath, and Jughead stared at her, his eyes slightly wider than they usually were.

"Wow," he stated. "You've put a lot of thought into that."

"I'm a Cooper, I tend to over think things unhealthily," Betty sighed. She had stabbed her spoon into the tub of ice cream at some point through her monologue, and had spun it around, churning up the ice cream. She stopped, and put the spoon in her mouth, sucking off the ice cream that was surrounding the metal.

"So you never wanted to study law?" Jughead clarified.

"Nope," she heaved out another heavy breath. "I never wanted to be stuck in an office, doing the same boring thing from day to day. And I never want to go back to Riverdale, or at least not to live."

"What about Polly? Is she a lawyer?"

"Yup," Betty nodded. "She deals mainly in property sales and divorce suits and things like that. Riverdale doesn't have any real big crime, so sometimes she would call me and she would be really excited about some vandalism case or something," she smiled at the memory. "Polly wanted to be a lawyer, though, and she wanted to move back to Riverdale. She found the city to big, and she didn't like it."

"Did she study in New York too?" Jughead encouraged her to keep talking as he pulled the blanket properly over their legs, stretching out one of his along the back of the sofa so that it was tucked behind her.

"Can you tell that my parents want me to be a mini Polly?" Betty joked wryly, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "At school, I had to wear my hair a certain way, because it was practical, and because Polly had always worn her hair like that. I wore all of her hand-me-down clothes until I was fourteen and was actually adamant about having my _own_ style. I had to join the debate team and Mathletes and the track team, because Polly liked after school activities so much, so, naturally, I should as well. I dated one guy through high school, a guy that had worked after school at the newspaper office with my parents, and he was nice enough, but I wanted to fall asleep every time he opened his mouth. But Polly had dated a guy through senior year who was the son of one of mum and dad's friends, and they were so happy together, so I should have someone as well. Polly went to University in New York to become a lawyer, so obviously...So should I," she twisted her mouth and swallowed hard, stabbing her spoon into the ice cream, not wanting to meet Jughead's eyes.

"A lot of people in your position would resent Polly as well as your parents," Jughead noted after a few minutes of quiet.

"I could never resent Polly," Betty shook her head adamantly. "I love her to bits and pieces. She never wanted me to go to University to New York, stood up for me time and time again. I just...It was _me_ that wasn't strong enough to stand up to my parents and tell them I didn't want to be a lawyer." Jughead nodded slowly.

"Then what _do_ you want to do?" He asked. "What does Betty Cooper want to do as a career?" Betty thought for a moment before giving him a small smile.

"I always wanted to work with kids, like maybe get a degree in Early Childhood Education," she looked embarrassed as she talked, and Jughead frowned, pressing the spoon into the slowing melting ice cream and focusing his full attention on the blonde. "I always loved babysitting, and I helped out a lot at the kindergarten down the block from us in the holidays."

"But your parents didn't approve?" Jughead surmised.

"Something like that," Betty shrugged. "Said there wasn't all that much money in it, and that I wouldn't want to go home and look after my _own_ children if I was looking after other peoples kids all day." Jughead frowned again, and he reached out, touching her cheek with the pad of one of his fingers, gently running it down her cheek, to the corner of her mouth.

"Screw them," he said decisively. "If that's what you want to do, then do it." Betty blinked, as though she _still_ hadn't realized that he was _completely_ on her side.

"Yeah, I, uh, I've been thinking about it," she admitted. "I would need to go back to University, and I would have to find a part time job that works around it. My parents were helping pay for things when I was back doing the degree _they_ wanted, they're not going to help me now, and almost all the money that I've saved is gone. I can't keep mooching off Kevin either, no matter how many times he tells me it's okay."

"It's okay, I can help with that," Jughead told her and Betty's eyebrows pulled together. "Look, you find out what classes you need to do and how much the courses are and, I don't know—whatever it is you need to find out. I'll see what I can do about the whole money situation you've got going on."

"Oh, no, Jughead, I wasn't—I wasn't asking for money or anything—"

"I know you weren't," Jughead lifted his hand, crooking one finger under her chin while his thumb brushed over her bottom lip. "And I'm not going to give you money coz I'm not exactly sitting on a gold mine here." Betty huffed out a laugh. "But I might be able to help out in the job area." Betty was still frowning, and even though Jughead thought she still looked pretty with a frown, she looked prettier without one. The hand that wasn't under her chin reached up, pressing a thumb softly at the crease between her eyebrows and smoothing it out. "Now..." he dropped his hands from her face and picked up the lid of the ice cream tub. "I'm going to put this back, and then we're gonna go back to bed, okay?"

"Okay," Betty nodded, wondering if that meant another round of sex. Not that she would be opposed to it, as she walked back to the bedroom, hearing Jughead close the freezer door out in the kitchen. He joined her in the bed, climbing in and tugging up the covers. But he didn't reach for her ass, or slide his hand under her shirt. He just looped an arm around her waist and pulled her close against him, making an adorable snuffling noise at the back of his throat as he buried his face against her shoulder.

Betty fell asleep almost immediately, her lips curved upward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay in updating !  
> Leave a comment and let me know what yo think :)


	10. Chapter 10

"That looks disgusting," Veronica sniffed, turning up her nose at the green drink that Cheryl was holding.

"No, _that_ looks disgusting," Cheryl sniffed right back, waving her perfectly manicured fingers at the food in front of Betty and Veronica. Betty wasn't entirely certain how this day out had happened, because while she and Veronica had met up a couple of times now, she hadn't seen Cheryl since the night at the club, where she had first met all of Kevin's friends. She got on well with Veronica, the gorgeous brunette seeming all too welcoming when it came to their circle of friends. But she still felt a little bit weird about the idea of hanging out with Cheryl, given she had history with Jughead—even if the history was just that they had slept together once before, and Jughead clearly wasn't interested.

It turned out that she had absolutely nothing to worry about, because it was damn clear that there was something going on between Cheryl and Veronica, whether the girls were ready to admit that or not.

"You know what, if you weren't such a fucking princess, you would actually be able to enjoy the guilty pleasures in life," Veronica smirked across the table at the red head before picking up one of the chicken nuggets on her tray and throwing it into her mouth. Betty felt as though she was getting in the middle of some double date as Cheryl rolled her eyes, but clear amusement was showing in her eyes and she wrapped her bright red painted lips around the straw of her weird green drink that was some sort of kale smoothie.

"Southside trash obviously doesn't change it's stripes," she stated as she put the drink back on the table. "So, Betty," the girl turned her eyes toward the blonde and Betty shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "I hear that you seem to have caught the attention of our Jughead. He seems quite...Enamored by you." There was something about the way that she was staring at Betty that made the blonde feel as though the red head could see right through her.

"Uh, we've been seeing each other," Betty replied, glancing out of the corner of her eye toward Veronica, wondering if this was going to become some sort of interrogation. This was the exact thing that she wanted to avoid, talking about Jughead with a girl who was as beautiful and self-assured as Cheryl, who had been with him before, even if it did seem as though she had the whole unresolved sexual tension thing going on with someone else.

"Well, I just wanted to reassure you that there's absolutely nothing going on between the two of us," Cheryl continued, acting as though she didn't notice—or maybe just didn't care—that Betty was uncomfortable. "We had a little tryst a while go, and even if he is still lusting after this body that I have worked so hard to have tight and flexible, my interest in him has waned and moved on to someone else."

"So I can see," Betty muttered as she picked up her cup of coke and sucked on the straw.

"Excuse me?" Cheryl arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"Nothing," Betty gave her a wide smile. Veronica was just shaking her head and looking as though she was trying not to laugh as she picked up her burger.

"I, for one, know for a fact that Jughead isn't lusting after anyone except our beautiful Betty," Veronica stated, nudging Betty in the side with her elbow before biting into her burger. Cheryl curled her upper lip, as though in contempt at the greasy food that the two other girls had chosen other than her suggestions of smoothies, but there was affection in her eyes as she watched Veronica eat.

After eating lunch—thankfully they were able to get through it without any other mention of Jughead—they went shopping. Betty didn't have much money to spare, so after buying a new dress that she really shouldn't have splurged on, she just stood back and watched the other two flutter from shop to shop. Veronica didn't buy much either, getting a couple of dresses and a pair of shoes, but it seemed as though trailing after Cheryl and throwing out comments and opinions on clothes that the girl picked out was a pretty common thing for her. Betty and Veronica grinned as Cheryl picked up item after item, practically terrorizing the poor shop assistants, disappearing into the changing rooms and then flaunting off the outfits one by one, strutting in front of them as though she was on a runway.

"Cheryl is a trust fund baby—her and her twin brother," Veronica told Betty at one point, as they waited for Cheryl to come out in a tight, sequinned green pair of pants that she had picked out. "Her brother does some work for the family company, but Cheryl just prefers to spend the money, and sleep all day."

"You guys are kind of an odd match," Betty mused as she glanced over the ripped jeans that Veronica was wearing and the tight, black shirt she was wearing, compared to the clearly designer brand outfits that Cheryl surrounded herself with. "And if she's got all this money, then why doesn't she have her own apartment."

"We absolutely _hated_ each other at school—it was this all girls boarding school, my grandparents covered by tuition while her parents practically paid for the west wing of the place. She was from this tiny town and her parents wanted her to have a higher education, so she was sent away. Cheryl was this pompous little bitch—actually, she still _is_ —and we just rubbed each other the wrong way. Then about a year and a half ago, she came into a club that I was working at, and we got talking, and it was weird," Veronica shrugged. "We just kind of clicked. Even though she won't admit it," she glanced toward the dressing room door and lowered her voice. "She gets lonely. Her parents aren't really the loving type, and since her brother is still back in their hometown and works a lot, she doesn't get to see him, plus he's got a new girlfriend that is taking up a lot of his time. She doesn't let many people in, and a lot of people tend to write her off as a vapid bitch because of how she acts. But she's actually not that bad, she's a good person underneath the twelve layers of make up and all that Prada."

"You guys must be close, if you're living together," Betty noted quietly.

"Yeah," Veronica nodded. "She's my best friend." Betty smiled. "Although I think that her and I fight a lot more than normal best friends—more than you and Kevin, for example." Betty didn't respond to that one, knowing that the reason that they fought more often was because there was a lot more going on between them than _best friends_ , but now probably wasn't the time for that.

"So?!" Cheryl demanded, and Betty blinked, wondering how long the red head had been standing in front of the pair of them.

"You look like a shiny asparagus," Veronica said in a flat voice, her face expressionless. Betty tried to hide her snort as Cheryl rolled her eyes and stalked off to look at herself in the mirror, and Veronica met Betty's eyes, laughing.

* * *

"Did you have a good time?" Kevin asked as Betty came in the front door, holding the shiny bag that her dress was in. "Did Cheryl try to turn you into one of her minions and force a spinach smoothie down your throat?" Betty made a face and stuck her finger in her mouth, miming throwing up, and Kevin laughed.

"It's okay, I fought The Man and ordered a cheeseburger and chips from McDonalds," Betty replied with a grin. "Question, though," she tilted her head to the side. "Have Veronica and Cheryl always been...Uh, always had such, uh...Always had—"

"Sexual tension so thick that you could cut it with a knife?!" Kevin summed up and Betty let out a laugh. "Yeah. It can get stifling at times. Sometimes you just want to get them both high and drunk off their faces and lock them in a cupboard until they admit their feelings for each other."

"Yes!" Betty cried out. "That's exactly it!" Kevin grinned and they both laughed.

"They'll sort it out...Eventually," Kevin shrugged. "We're a year and a half in and counting. You know the one that I really feel sorry for?"

"Who?" Betty flopped down on the couch next to Kevin, toeing off her shoes and picking up one of the fluffy pillows, hugging it to her chest.

"Archie," Kevin answered. "Poor kid has been sleeping with Veronica on and off for about the past year, and it's like he's completely blind to the fact that once she realizes how she feels about Cheryl, he's going to be completely left in the dust. I'm pretty sure everyone can see it except poor, oblivious Archie—I think even Jughead is aware of what's going on, and he really couldn't care any less about what's going on with those two." Betty licked her lips at the mention on Jughead, glancing down at the cushion that she had hugged to her lap, tugging at one of the tassels.

"So Jughead knows about the closeted thing between Cheryl and Veronica and he still slept with her?" Betty tried to be blase out about it, but Kevin could see right through it. He raised an eyebrow at her, and Betty shrugged, pulling at the tassles of the cushion.

"Jughead was drunk, like, incredibly drunk," Kevin shrugged. "It was about six or seven months ago, and I don't know the details or anything, but Archie—who is Jughead's best friend—said that he regretted it right afterwards because he's always tried to keep, ya know, who he sleeps with and his friends completely _separate_. Obviously Cheryl didn't feel the same way, because months afterwards she kept trying to hit on him and get in another round with him. But _theeeeeen_ ," Kevin grinned and reached over and poked Betty in the side. "You came along, and Jughead is completely infatuated with you." Betty's cheeks reddened and she shook her head.

"He seems to like me, but I wouldn't say anything about him being infatuated," she stated. Kevin rolled his eyes.

"Look, with Jughead—he plays things very close to the vest. I've never heard of him actually dating anyone and neither has Archie or Veronica, who have known him for longer than I have, and then you come along and he seems pretty set on you," Kevin reached out with one hand and tapped the end of her nose gently with a finger, making her laugh. "And as for Cheryl and Veronica, they'll sort their shit out. _Eventually_."


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait, guys!  
> Here's the next chapter :)

It took just over a week—and a lot of encouragement from Kevin—for Betty to go to down to the reception office for University of Los Angeles and speak with one of the advisers there about signing up for classes. The woman was lovely, and when she pulled up the transcripts from where she was studying in New York, she noted her perfect attendance and her good grades. The woman had also looked surprised when she saw what Betty had been previously studying, although it wasn't in a discouraging way, saying that going from law to early childhood wasn't a very common transition, and Betty wasn't going to get started about how it was her parents idea, so she just shrugged and smiled, and said that she had had a change of heart.

The tuition wasn't nearly as expensive as the papers she had been studying for pre-law, and her parents had been paying off a good chunk of the student loans she had already drawn down, so she was eligible to take out more. But it still made her balk as she saw the figure at the bottom of the sheet, given at the moment, her only options for working were some minimum wage jobs where her colleagues were all probably going to be teenagers in high school.

She'd gotten an interview at a coffee house, which she was going to take if they gave her a call back, but it still wasn't going to bring in very much money. Of course Jughead had said that he would try to help her out with a job, but she wasn't too sure what kind of pull he had, and what sort of job he was thinking that she was capable of, so she was still looking herself. Through high school, the only type of job she had was babysitting and working holidays in her parents local papers office. Then when she had moved to New York, her parents had discouraged her from getting a job, telling her to focus on her studies. She received a student allowance, which was enough to help her get by, especially with her parents helping with her student loan repayments, and then throughout her second year of school, she had gotten a job at the University library. So she really didn't have any experience in the work force, and now she was going to be taking on _more_ loans.

But this was what she wanted.

Independence from her parents.

Freedom to pursue the career that _she_ wanted.

It meant that she was broke, but that was the story of every other college students life, and plenty of them got by without the support of their parents. And she was lucky that she had the support of her best friend and his group of friends that had welcomed her into their circle and her...Well, her Jughead, she wasn't too sure what exactly he was, but she had his support.

So she had everything together, all the brochures and papers, and she needed to go to a couple more meetings and officially sign the papers to sign up for the courses and to also drawn down the loan, but then everything was official.

Now all she needed to do was call Jughead.

They had text everyday since she had spent the night at his place after their date. Jughead didn't have a Facebook, so she couldn't stalk him on there and look at old pictures, but she could go through Archie and Veronica's, and she found a lot on there. Jughead always seemed to be trying to get away from the camera, but it seemed as though Veronica and Cheryl were both pretty persistent with their cameras, and there was one that she really liked of him and Archie, Archie grinning widely at the camera while Jughead had just a small smile on his face as he looked down at the beer bottle in his hand.

They hadn't actually seen each other since that night, though, and they hadn't spoken on the phone. Jughead had mentioned a couple of times that the garage had gotten really busy, and Betty had started hanging out more and more often with Veronica, which then lead to more time with Cheryl.

Betty took in a deep breath and tapped her thumb on the screen of her phone and lifted her phone to her ear. It rang four or five times, and Betty was thinking about hanging up and trying to ring later when Jughead picked up.

"Bets!" Jughead answered and Betty blinked at the nickname, and then blushed. "What's up?"

"Um, I just wanted to tell you that I signed up for the ECE course," Betty told him, rolling her eyes at how nervous she was feeling. Her stomach was squeezing tight, and she bit down on her lower lip before walking over to the backdoor and opening it up, letting in the fresh air. "Well, I haven't officially signed the papers, but I've got everything I need to, and adviser was really nice, said that I wouldn't have any problems if I applied now."

"That's amazing," Jughead's voice sounded sincere, and it made her smile widely. "That's so great!"

"Yeah, a little bit scary, but I'm excited as well, you know?" Betty kept on chewing on her lip and wondering if she should bring up the job situation, but it turned out that she didn't have to, because Jughead's next sentence was,

"I'm pretty busy at the moment, I can't really talk just now, but I think I've sorted out the whole job thing. Tonight, I'm taking you out to dinner, okay? Be ready for about half past five, okay? I'll come and pick you up. Uh, dress up in something nice, yeah?"

"Yeah, okay, that sounds great," Betty replied.

"Alright, I'll see you then," Jughead concluded, and then ended the call. Betty grinned at the backyard, closing her eyes as a breeze washed over her pale face.

* * *

"Juggie!" Archie called out as he walked into the garage, jerking his head in a nod in Reggie's direction before coming over to Jughead, who was laying on a creeper that was slid underneath Archie's blue pick-up truck. Jughead slid out from underneath the car and got to his feet, giving his friend a nod. "How's she looking?"

"It's fine. Just did a normal service and it's fine," Jughead told him. Archie gave him a hard look and Jughead snorted. "Sorry. _She's_ fine." Archie nodded, placated.

"So," Archie gave Jughead a sly smile and the dark haired man just raised an eyebrow at him, running his stained hand through his shaggy black hair that he generally kept pulled back under a beanie. "Betty."

"Yes, Betty," Jughead made a face. "Is a girl." Archie continued to stare. "That I happen to like." Archie smiled widely, like a proud mother. "Is there something you'd like to add in here?"

"I just think...I don't know, I think she's great," Archie grinned.

"What do you know about her? Since when do you spend time with her?" Jughead asked with a roll of his eyes.

"We've hung out a couple times," Archie shrugged. "She's been closer with Ronnie and Cheryl, so a few times we've had pizza over at their place. She seems amazing, and from everything I've heard from Kevin and Ronnie, she seems pretty into you." Jughead nodded, flicking his tongue out over his lower lip before turning around and walking toward the sink. Maybe he was also turning away from his friend because he was smiling at the idea of Betty having talked about him and obviously in a positive.

"Uh, my mum and Jellybean are in town for the night," Jughead said as he scrubbed his hands. "Jellybean had some production thing that she wanted to go to that is on tonight, so I'm going out to have an early dinner with them."

"Oh yeah, sounds good," Archie nodded. "Shit, I haven't seen that girl in, like, a year. I still think of her as six years old."

"So do I," Jughead nodded as he scrutinized his hands, figuring that was probably as good as he was going to get them. The years of working on cars had made the skin of his palms rough and there were a couple of cracks in the skin around his fingers that were stained black from oil. Jughead deemed them good enough and dried them off before turning around to Archie. "I'm taking Betty with me to dinner."

"You—you _what_?" Archie blinked, looking taken aback by that.

"I'm taking Betty with me to dinner," Jughead repeated, still looking as though he was getting used to the idea.

"Shit, Jug— _shit_ ," Archie was still blinking, almost comically, and Jughead would have made fun of his oldest friend, but he was still processing what he was going to be doing in just few hours as well. "You've never introduced any girl to your family before—not even that chick that you were kind of on-off seeing all through high school."

"Yeah, well, uh—" Jughead sniffed. "Betty needs a job, and I think that mum might be able to help out a little with that."

"Don't try to pretend that this is about something else," Archie laughed. "You're taking her to meet your family after only like, I don't know—a month of knowing her. That's a _big_ thing!" Jughead tried to keep his face expressionless, but Archie had known Jughead all his life and he could pick up on certain things that Jughead just couldn't cover up. "Yeah, and you know it's a big thing. You really like this girl."

"Yeah," Jughead shrugged. "I do." Archie grinned.

"Shit, that's awesome," he said with a nod.

"I'm glad you approve," Jughead muttered wryly, but there was a smile edging his lips up.

"I definitely approve," Archie laughed again.

"Hey, boss?" Reggie piped from a few feet. "You got anything else you need me to do before I head out?" Jughead looked over Archie's shoulder and shook his head.

"Nah, nah. You're cool to go."

"Sweet, I'll see you tomorrow," Reggie nodded his head in a farewell. "Catch you later, Arch."

"Laters, Reggie," Archie replied off-handedly before turning back to Jughead. "So are you guys actually going some place nice, or just to _Pop's_?"

"Hey, I have been known to eat places other than _Pop's_ ," Jughead retorted, and Archie raised an eyebrow. "Not many other places," Jughead amended. "But a few! Anyway, mum made the booking at some restaurant, so it wasn't up to me."

"And you have warned her that she's meeting her future mother-in-law tonight? And future sister-in-law?" Archie asked and Jughead gave him a derisive look. "No, but really—she knows that she's meeting them tonight?"

"Well, no," Jughead admitted slowly. "I just told her that I was going to pick her up and take her out to dinner—and that mother and sister-in-law comment was _way_ premature."

"Shit, Juggie—are you serious?" Archie let out a disbelieving laugh, completely ignoring the last sentence.

"What?"

"Geez, and people think I'm clueless when it comes to chicks," Archie shook his head. "She's gonna be freaked out when you show up at some restaurant and it's some meet and greet that she's not emotionally prepared for." Jughead winced as he realized just how _bad_ this situation was. "Oh, brother," Archie laughed as he picked up his keys from the table and headed toward his truck. "Good luck with that!" Jughead rolled his eyes as Archie got into the cab of the truck.

"Yo, Arch!" Jughead yelled and Archie stuck his head out the window. "You _are_ oblivious when it comes to chicks!"

"Not as oblivious as people think!" Archie yelled back with a grin and a quick salute before he turned on his truck and backed out of the garage.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, guys!

"You look gorgeous," Jughead muttered as they got off his bike. Betty was glad that she hadn't gone too overboard with the dress she was wearing. She hadn't been to sure about what to wear, since Jughead has said to 'wear something nice', but that hadn't been very specific. So she had gone with a short black dress, paired with a cropped denim jacket and stockings as well, so she at least limited the amount of flashing she did when she got on the back of Jughead's bike.

"Thanks," Betty gave Jughead a nervous smile. Even though they were...A _thing_...And he had made it clear that he was into her, she couldn't help the way her stomach was filled with butterflies whenever she was around him. When he had shown up at Kevin's place just twenty minutes ago, he had presented her with a single rose. She had smiled goofily at him and stood there staring for almost a whole minute before Kevin had cleared his throat behind her and said he would take it and find a vase while they went off and had their dinner date.

"So, uh," Jughead linked the fingers of one of his hands with Betty's, while the other hand behind his neck, rubbing at the base of his skull almost nervously. "There's probably something that I should tell you—"

"Juggie!" Came a squeal, and then there was a petite dark haired girl with a beanie that looked suspiciously like the one that Jughead was always wearing, came hurtling across the restaurant and wrapped her arms around Jughead. Jughead let out an 'oof' but then he laughed and hugged the girl back, letting go of Betty's hand.

"Jughead," came another voice, this time a softer, calmer one, from an older, kind looking woman with short black hair. The younger girl let go of Jughead and stepped aside to let the woman hug Jughead, before all eyes were turned back to her.

"Uh," Betty stated dumbly as she looked between all three of the dark haired people. They all had the same coloured hair. They all had the same eyes. They were blatantly related. "Uhhh," she repeated, turning her eyes desperately toward Jughead.

"Mum, JB, this is Betty," Jughead quickly said, moving forward to stand beside Betty and put an arm around her, resting his hand at her lower back. "Betty, this is my mum, and my little sister, Jellybean."

" _JB_ ," Jellybean Jones quickly corrected before shooting a wide smile at Betty and thrusting out her hand. "Hi!"

"Hi," Betty hoped that she gave a pleasant smile, because she still felt caught off guard by the fact that she was meeting Jughead's _family_ —minus the father of course, who all she knew about was that he had taken off and left them—and she had not been given any forewarning. She shook Jellybean's hand, noting the brightly painted nails on the teenager—alternating colours of pink and blue.

"And call me Gladys," Gladys Jones reached out and gave Betty a quick hug. "Oh, you're beautiful, darling," she noted and gave her son a wink. Betty flushed a deep red colour and looked down at her feet. "Okay! I think that we should all head back to our table, before we embarrass poor Betty anymore." Betty was glad that the attention shifted from her, at least for the time being, and they headed toward a table near the back of the restaurant. It wasn't too fancy, which Betty was glad for, or else she would feel too awkward in the outfit she was wearing, and she really didn't need to feel at any more of a disadvantage right now.

"So when's this show that you're going to?" Jughead asked as they sat down, Gladys and Jellybean on one side, and Jughead and Betty on the other. Jughead put his hand on Betty's knee under the table, and the weight of his hand was comforting.

"It starts at eight, which is why we needed an earlier dinner," Gladys replied and waved a hand toward Jughead's head. "Now take off that beanie," she shot a look at Jellybean. "You too, miss." There were identical pained expressions on the siblings faces, and Betty hid her smile as she reached forward to pour herself a glass of water. "Jellybean studies Dramatic Arts, and there's a production tonight with a couple of her friends in it tonight," Gladys explained to Betty. "So we've driven in to see the show, and staying the night at a nice hotel. We've got a spa and massage booked in tomorrow morning before driving home." Gladys continued talking about the little 'girls night away' that her and her daughter had planned, and Betty's attention was divided between listening to Gladys, and watching Jughead and Jellybean make faces across the table at each other, and rip pieces off the bread rolls in the middle of the table and throw them at each other.

It was kind of adorable.

"Are you ready to order?" Their waiter appeared at the table, and Betty gave him props for smiling as though nothing was wrong, even though Jellybean had a couple of pieces of bread in her long hair, and Jughead had a bit hanging off his shoulder.

They placed their orders, and then the conversation was taken over by Jellybean, talking about her classes. Jughead leaned back in the booth they were in, putting his arm around Betty, his fingers lazily rubbing against her shoulder. The motion wasn't missed by Gladys, who smiled widely, and made Betty blush again, but thankfully she didn't say anything. Jughead didn't say all that much, except to tease his sister occasionally, and Jellybean seemed to have no problem carrying the conversation.

Their food was brought over, and Gladys asked Betty a few questions between mouthfuls, but it didn't feel like an interrogation, like it had when meeting the parents of her last boyfriend. Jellybean gave the pair of them cheeky smirks as she ate her burger, and Jughead pulled the fingers at her once, getting a dirty look from his mother. It was partway through dessert—Jughead had said that he didn't want to order anything, but he kept on stealing spoonfuls of her berry parfait—that Gladys put down her spoon and fixed her eyes properly on Betty, making the blonde nervous for the first time.

"So, Betty," Gladys began, and her eyes were still kind, like they had been throughout the whole meal, but there was a certain sternness in her voice. "Jughead tells me that you want to working in Early Childhood Education." That _definitely_ wasn't what Betty had been expecting the older woman to say, and she was caught off guard, blinking over at Jughead. He just gave her an encouraging nod, and then snagged another spoonful of parfait.

"Uh, yes," she nodded. "I do."

"And have you enrolled in classes?" Gladys asked.

"Yes," Betty nodded, and then paused. "Well, I've been down to the University and spoken with them enrolling. I was in University in New York previously, and they said that it was okay for me to put in a transfer, I had good records and everything..." she trailed off and shrugged. "I haven't signed the official papers or anything, like for the courses and for the student loan, but I will as soon as I know I can support myself. I just need to find a job that can work around the classes."

"And if you found one at a daycare or a kindergarten, that would definitely help," Gladys continued. "Since I know that you need to get a certain amount of hours in the field for your course."

"I mean, that's what I would want preferably, but it's unlikely to happen," Betty sighed as she gave up on trying to stop Jughead from swiping some of her parfait as he dodged around her spoon defenses for the umpteenth time. She slid it across to him and leaned back in the booth. "It can be hard to find placement at an early childhood centre who is willing to take on someone who isn't fully qualified, that's why it usually all gets done through the University. It would be good if I could, since the course is only on for two full days, and then one part day, so I could work a good twenty or so hours a week."

"Right," Gladys nodded, tilting her head to the side as she looked over at Jughead, who was staring back at his mother with a strange, pointed expression on her face. Gladys gave her son a small smile before turning her attention back to Betty. "JB and I used to live here as well, in Los Angeles. I worked here for nearly twenty-four years, at the same place. They were incredible people, and they were like a family," she pursed her lips together for a moment. "When my husband left us, it put us in a tough position, both emotionally and financially." Betty really wasn't sure where she was going with this, and her eyes flickered over to Jellybean, and then Jughead, before going back to Gladys. "And the woman that I worked with gathered around me and gave me so much love and support. Even after we moved, myself and JB, I still kept in touch with those woman because they were like family to me."

"They sound like amazing people," Betty said softly, even though she still wasn't sure how this was relevant to her.

"One of these woman, her name is Jenn Muggs," Gladys seemed to be finally coming to some kind of point. "And I used to work at _Kiddie Cove_." Betty raised an eyebrow. "It's a daycare, not the biggest in Los Angeles, but definitely one of the most respected. There's about five of the centres spread out across the city, and one of them is three blocks away from my Jughead's garage—I understand that you live reasonably close to there?" Betty nodded, feeling a little light headed. "Jenn's own daughter, Ethel, used to work at the centre, but she's just gotten married and is moving away with her husband, so she has an opening. She knows that you'll be studying and that you won't be fully qualified, but she is willing to have you work there for her."

"Wh..." Betty blinked. "Thank you, but..." she looked at Jughead, who looked completely unsurprised, a small smile on his pink mouth.

"I told you I could help out," he told her, leaning in and giving her a hard kiss on the mouth. Betty was still shocked, still processing what had just happened to be embarrassed about the fact that Jughead had just kissed her in front of his mother and sister.

"Jughead knew I was coming into town, and he called me a few nights ago, asking if there was any jobs I knew going within the ECE community," Gladys was talking with a smile on her face but Betty could barely hear. "And I figured that you must someone pretty special if he was calling about you, since Juggie _never_ talks to us about who he's seeing."

"Thank you," she managed to say. "Thank you so much."


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we've got an update !  
> I hope you guys have all had a great holiday :)  
> So , I hope you guys enjoy the update , and I've also posted quite a few oneshots , if you guys want to check those out as well :)

"I really...I really don't know what to say," Betty murmured as she stood in front of Jughead, the helmet in her hands, tapping her fingers against it nervously. Jughead had taken off his helmet as well and was just watching her with a slightly amused expression on his face. "I didn't expect you to do... _Any of this_." Jughead twisted his lips and suddenly had a nervous look on his face.

"You're not mad I didn't warn you about my mum and JB being there?" He asked.

"Well," Betty sighed and rolled her eyes back as she let out a a little laugh. "Maybe I was a little bit pissed about that to begin with, but that's okay. Although, in future, you should definitely let me know things like that, because I tend to panic if I don't have time to over think every single possible way a situation might go wrong," she smiled ruefully and Jughead couldn't help but shake his head and smile slightly at that. "But what you did...What your _mum_ did?" Betty licked her lips and stepped closer to his bike. "I can't believe you did that for me."

"Why?" Jughead raised an eyebrow.

"Because...Because we barely know each other!" Betty reasoned. Jughead gave her another small smile, this one feeling like something more as he got off his bike. He took the helmet from her and put it on the bike, lifting his hands to each side of her face.

"I feel as though I know you, Betty," Jughead said softly. "And every single part of you that I've seen, I like, and I want to see everything else that you've got to offer." Betty's cheeks were burning, and at least it was night time, so Jughead couldn't see that she was turning the shade of a tomato, but he would definitely be able to feel it on her skin. "I had the power to help you, and so that's what I did. Or at least, I _knew_ someone who had the power to help you, and so I promised mum that she could meet you," he laughed under his breath. "I think she realized how important you were to me when I actually agreed to that. I've never even talked to mum about someone that I've dated, muchless agreed for her to meet them." Betty breathed in deeply as Jughead's thumb smoothed over her lower lip, gently pressing down on it.

"Thank you," she managed to say, her breath catching in her throat. Jughead nodded, leaning forward and kissing her. It was close mouthed and soft and he was holding her face so gently that it made her entire body ache in the best way possible. When he pulled away, she could just make out from the light that was coming from the windows of Kevin's house that he still had his eyes closed, the lashes fluttering against his cheeks as they opened.

"I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" Jughead said softly, brushing one last kiss to her mouth before stepping away.

"Yeah...Okay..." Betty's voice was quiet, almost awe-struck as she stepped back as he got on the bike and swung his leg over his bike and put his helmet on. He gave her one last look, along with a half smile, before he kicked off the ground and revved the engine of his bike, driving off down the street. Betty waited there, until the sound of his bike disappeared into the night, and then she turned around and ran up the steps to Kevin's house. The door was unlocked, and she knew that he must have heard him come in and just unlocked it for her.

"Well, good evening, Betty-Boo," Kevin sung out as Betty came in. There was a wide grin on her face and he wiggled his eyebrows at her. "You look pretty happy."

"I got a job!" he exclaimed as she collapsed on the couch next to Kevin, not bothering to kick off her shoes.

"You— _what_?" Kevin's eyebrows shot up.

"I got a job," she repeated, the grin on her face just widening. "We went out for dinner, and his mum and sister were there, and his mum has gotten me a job." Kevin actually looked as though he was speechless, which was a first, as he just stared at Betty. Betty took in a deep breath before letting it out with a whoosh, closing her eyes as she relived the evening, a bunch of pictures in her head.

"You met his mum? And his sister?" Kevin sounded confused.

"Yeah," Betty nodded. "We had dinner together. She's lovely, and Jellybean—seriously, Jughead and Jellybean, what kinds of name's are those?—was sweet. Her and Jughead together...They're adorable together," Betty heaved out another breath. "And she got me a job." Kevin shook his head from side to side and then huffed out a laugh.

"You, Betty, have a certain way with people," he hummed out and Betty smiled at him. "And you're going to have to tell me all about this impromptu meeting with his mum and sister, and how all of that lead to a job, but you're going to have to tell me later. Because right now, I've got a date," he smirked.

"A date?" Betty straightened up on the couch, looking up at the clock above the TV on the wall across from them. "It's just after eight. Where are you guys going?"

"Well...Maybe it's more of a booty call than a date," Kevin shrugged, still grinning.

"Is it with the guy from the club?" She asked, wiggling her eyebrows at her friend.

"The guy from..." Kevin looked confused for a minute and then shook his head. "Oh, the guy that I was dancing with before you went off to do the nasty with Jughead?" He smirked again and Betty rolled her eyes. "No, that guy was a creep. I didn't end up going home with anyone that night, you were the only one in the household who got lucky that night," he reached over and poked her in the side and Betty twisted her body away from him, pulling the fingers at her friend. "I met him a few weeks ago when I was leaving work. He's..." Kevin trailed off, pursing his lips together and Betty frowned slightly. "He's pretty great, to be honest, but we haven't really done anything except screw around."

"Do you want to do more than that?" Betty asked quietly.

"Yeah, and I think he does as well," Kevin nodded. "I mean, the first time we met, we ended up hooking up behind that coffee place I love just down from work. And we've met up a couple times since, had phone sex—"

"I _so_ don't need the details!" Betty interjected before he could go too in depth, and Kevin snorted.

"Tonight he said there was a movie that he wanted to see, so I'm hoping..." Kevin trailed off and shrugged. "I'm hoping that means he wants something more. To get too know each other better, coz we're kind of working our way up to that point."

"Getting to know each other from the inside out, huh?" Betty grinned and Kevin rolled his eyes at her, not able to hold back his laugh. Betty smiled teasily, but then her expression to something a bit more sincere. "It sounds like he wants to get it know you, if he's asked you out to a movie rather than just to get together to hook up," she said to him encouragingly. "What's his name?"

"Joaquin," Kevin asked.

"Sexy name," Betty nodded with a grin.

"I think so," Kevin grinned back. "Anyway, I better head out, but that does not mean you're off the hook. You're going to give me a full debrief of meeting Mama Jones and little Jellybean over coffee in the morning, okay? And we're also going to talk about getting your cute ass signed up properly for those classes at the University, because now that you've got a job lined up, you've got no excuses."

"And you're going to tell me all about Joaquin, and I want photos, preferably selfies," Betty added.

"Sure thing," Kevin grinned and reached over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Oh, actually, you might be able to meet him soon, if this all goes the way I hope it does," he made a face and shrugged. "It's Ronnie's birthday next month, so maybe I'll bring him to that." Kevin waved as he backed away.

"You better!" Betty called after her friend as he went out the door. After he left, locking the door behind him, Betty fell back against the cushions, a smile back on her face. After Gladys and Jellybean left, to get to their production, her and Jughead had stayed at the restaurant for another forty-five minutes. The news of the new job and meeting Jughead's family had made her so stomach so tight she had found it difficult to eat, but after they had left, and the excitement had subsided slightly, she had been able to get through some more food. So Jughead had ordered another berry parfait—which he stole more than half of again—and they had talked.

He had gotten her a job.

He had introduced her to his mum and sister.

She didn't want to jump to any conclusions or start over-thinking things, but from everything she had understood about Jughead, he was a very private person. And his mother had said that she had never met any of his other girlfriends. And now here she was, only about a month in and she had met both his mother and his sister.

She really hoped that she wasn't just reading too much into it.

Because Betty couldn't even begin to describe how much she liked Jughead, she had never felt this way about anyone before.

The other boys that she had been with it had been...Okay. Okay, sometimes verging on boring. It was all just routine, the first guy she had been with, back in high school, that was pretty much her parents just setting her up. They had encouraged her to accept when he asked her to the school dance, and then they had offered him a part time job at their newspaper office, and even though Betty really didn't feel anything more than friendship for him, she couldn't bring herself to break up with him. Going off to University had just been a welcome excuse. And then she had met Stephen, and she had rebuffed him to begin with, wanting to focus on her studies. But then he had been sweet, and brought her coffee to class, it had been nice. She had been feeling lonely, since she hadn't been connecting with any of the other girls, and someone to talk to was a welcome change. But she had always been busy, and he just hadn't understood that her education came first and that she really didn't want to go out with him on a Friday night and watch him and his buddies get drunk and play beer pong. Breaking up with him had definitely been a good move.

Jughead was nothing like them.

He actually looked interested when she talked.

He wanted her to be happy.

He got on with her friends.

He encouraged her to go after what she wanted.

He _helped_ her go after what she wanted.

Betty was smiling the whole time she did her teeth and washed her face.

She was still smiling when she turned off the light in the lounge and pulled the blanket over her as she fell asleep on the pull out couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think :)


	14. Chapter 14

When she woke up the next morning, Betty went back down to UCLA to sign the papers to officially sign up for her course. Because she was a transfer and she already had such a good record at paying back her student loan, there hadn't been too many hoops that she had needed to jump through to sign the contract, although there had still been a moment of mild panic when she saw the amount that she was signing for, including her living allowance. But it was nothing compared to the ones that she had been facing if she had ended up going to law school like her parents wanted, or even to the one that she had drawn down for her pre-law degree. So she sucked in a deep breath and signed the papers.

Afterwards, she went by Kevin's work and waved the contract and papers in his face, and he had taken her out to get coffee and waffles, insisting that waffles were a celebratory food, and it didn't matter what time of day it was. So they had binged on waffles, which were completely covered in chocolate sauce, fresh raspberries and strawberries, and Betty freaked out about the classes that she was going to be starting in just a few short months, and Kevin told her all about Joaquin. It turned out that Joaquin _did_ want something more from their relationship than just the physical, and even though Kevin hadn't come home until after midnight the night before, they had only gone to a movie and then gone to a nearby pub to get something to eat. They had talked, and the only physical contact had been the pair of them holding hands and the kiss that Joaquin had give Kevin at the end of the night.

Betty went home after because Kevin had needed to go back to work and budgeted out how much money she was going to need for new clothes, since she was going to need to spend her days in more than just sweatpants and a tee-shirt. It wasn't that she didn't used to have a lot of clothes, it was more that she had only packed one bag when she had come to live with Kevin, and she had no idea what had happened to one's she left back in New York. A lot of the clothes had been ones that she had brought while out shopping with her mother, or that her mother had sent her, and they just weren't the type of thing that she liked to wear, so she had left them all behind.

The next day, Betty was making breakfast when her phone rang, an unknown number flashing on the screen.

"Hello?" Betty asked tentatively.

"Betty, it's Gladys," Jughead's mother spoke jovially down the line and the blonde blinked, confused as to how she had gotten her number. "Now, I just wanted to give you a call to follow up on our discussion from dinner the other night." Betty felt her heart jolt in her chest, wondering if Gladys was about to say that the job had been taken, or she had only said that because she wanted to be nice while Jughead was around. "They want you to come in today, just so they can meet you, for you to get a feel for the place and sign your contract."

"Right, of course," Betty tried to ignore the way her stomach squeezed so tightly that she she felt like she was going to be sick.

"Sweetie, don't you start stressing out," Gladys told her, her voice soothing. "Jenn is a lovely woman, and she has been doing this for a long time. She has taken on a lot of girls who are still going through University, and I believe that there's two girls there who are probably about your age."

"Right," Betty repeated, nodding to herself. Gladys laughed, but not in an unkind way. She gave Betty the address and also the phone number for Jenn Muggs in case she got lost on the way. "Thank you," Betty said quickly before they ended the call. "I know I said this the other night, but _thank you_. This means a lot."

"No problem, hun," Gladys reassured her before ending the call. Betty took her phone away from her ear, and was torn between staring at her phone—still in disbelief that all of this was happening—and wanting to bounce up and down in excitement. She called up an uber, just because she still didn't confidently know her way to walk or take the bus around, and nervously got in, tapping her fingers against her bag, which was in her lap. The uber driver was thankfully quiet, and didn't try to start any conversation as they drove, allowing her to get lost in her thoughts.

The day care was painted bright yellow, with red and blue splashes of colour, the sign in big, white writing. It looked happy, and cheerful, and she could hear kids yelling and laughing as she paid the driver and approached the building. There was a high wooden fence with an outside lock, to ensure that none of the kids managed to get out and make a break for the road. Betty unlocked it and let herself inside, walking toward the front door.

"Hey," came a cheerful voice was a beautiful, dark skinned girl with curly brown hair. "Can I help you? Are you looking at enrolling your child with us?"

"Wh—oh, no," Betty laughed nervously as she turned to face the girl. "Um, my name is Betty, I'm here to see Jenn Muggs? Um—" she swallowed as she tucked her hair behind her ear nervously. "I think that—"

"Oh, right!" The girl smiled. "Betty. You're starting with us soon, right?" Betty blinked in surprise before nodding. "Yeah, absolutely, she's in her office at the moment. My name is Val, by the way. Well, technically it's Valerie Brown, but I go by Val."

"Hi," Betty grinned, relieved that she knew at least one person, and that person looked welcoming.

"Follow me," Valerie Brown said as she turned on her heel and walked into the daycare. There were a couple of kids sitting on a mat, playing with building blocks, a couple of other kids who were painting at a low table, and then there were double doors opened up to the back area, where there was a sandpit and a playground in the middle of the grassy area. The kids all looked happy and content, one little girl with bright red hair singing nonsense as she twirled around in circles. Betty smiled before turning her attention back to Val, who was leading her down a hallway. "Hey, Jenn?" Val knocked on a partially closed door. "Betty's here to see you."

"Yes, absolutely, send her in," Jenn Mugg's said from inside, and Betty swallowed down her nervousness as Val grinned at her and pushed the door open. Betty passed by her with a quick smile and the older woman got up from her seat, reaching out her hand to the blonde. "Hi, Betty. My name is Jenn."

"Hi," Betty took her hand and gave it a shake before sitting down in the beside Jenn's desk. "I, uh, I just wanted to start by saying thank you. I know that this was a favor for Gladys, and you had never even met me but I won't disappoint you, I—"

"Betty," Jenn cut her off with a warm smile. "You've got nothing to be nervous about. Gladys is a good friend of mine and she said that you would fit in well here." Obviously Jughead had talked her up quite a bit, since this job had been secured before she had even met Gladys. "Now, you will, of course, start with a three month trial period, just to ensure that we're all happy. Do you know what hours you'll be doing at your course? Because we will need to work out your schedule around those..."

It was so easy.

It was _too_ easy.

The plan that she had in place for herself, that her _parents_ had in place for her, had sounded so long and hard. Maybe it had also felt that way because it was something that she didn't want to do. It just felt like it was going to be a chore.

This felt _good_.

Betty stayed for almost an hour, and only the first half hour was spent talking about the job, the second half was spent talking about Betty—Jenn said that she wanted to get to know her better. She asked what Betty had been studying, what had prompted her move from New York to Los Angeles, although she seemed to know when she had brushed on a touchy subject, because she backed off before asking why Betty had changed her mind around her degree. Jenn also spoke about herself, that her daughter, Ethel Muggs, had been working there before moving away with her husband. Before she left, Jenn also introduced her to a couple of the other workers; Val, and then three older woman, Carol Mitchell, Annabelle Brighton and Kerry Peters. They all seemed like nice people, and Val whispered as Betty left that she was glad that there was going to be another younger girl around again, since Ethel left.

Betty stood outside for a few minutes, just taking in some deep breaths as she processed everything that had just happened. She began walking up the street, in the direction that the taxi had come from, and typed Kevin's address into her phone, knowing that it was close since it had only been about a ten minute drive. It looked as though there was a short cut that she could take, through a nearby park, and she figured that she could come this way any time she was working there. It would be cheaper than getting a taxi or a bus. The sun was warm on her cheeks as she skimmed through her contacts and tapping down on the one she was looking for.

"Bets," Jughead greeted her when he picked up the phone.

"Jughead, hey," Betty smiled. "So I just went by the daycare...They all seem really nice."

"Yeah? That's good," Jughead answered.

"Hey, so, Jughead? I was thinking..." she trailed off as a dog ran past her, clearly free from it's leash as the owner shouted and chased after it. She grinned before continuing down the cobble-stoned pathway that curved it's way through the park. "I was thinking that you should tell me your name."

"Oh really?" Jughead let out a short laugh, obviously surprised at her request. "I thought I told you—that's fiftieth date material."

"Yeah, well, I'm thinking that you should just tell me know, since I already know there's going to be fifty dates," Betty pulled her lower lip into her mouth, sucking on it hard as she hoped that she hadn't crossed a line. Jughead was quiet for a beat before responding.

"Promise?" He said, his tone playful, and Betty couldn't help but break out into a smile.

"Well, I really like your mum and sister," she told him, laughing a little. "So I think I might stick around." Jughead laughed softly, and her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest.

"Forsythe. Forsythe Pendleton Jones—the third."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed :)


	15. Chapter 15

Three weeks went by.

In just a little over a month Betty would be starting her course at University.

Her and Jughead had been seeing each other steadily, at least three or four times a week. And she had been getting to know the rest of his and Kevin's group of friends as the days went by as well. Her and Veronica got on well, and even though she had been tentative about Cheryl at first, and still found her abrasive and arrogant personality a little hard to deal with, she was slowly warming up to her. With Archie, she found him sweet and funny, and couldn't help but feel sorry for him because he seemed completely unaware of what was going on between Veronica and Cheryl.

To be fair, _they_ didn't seem to aware of what was happening between them either, so there was that.

She had been working full time since the week after she had first met Jenn, and once she got her schedule for her classes, she had been told that they would be able to change the shifts to work around her classes. The other woman that she worked with were more than happy to show her the ropes, and she had quickly built rapport with the children. They were aged infants to six, some of the oldest children coming to them before and after they had been at school. Val was amazing—she was so beautiful and confident and friendly—very similar to Veronica, and Betty had invited her to come have coffee with her and the girls a couple of times. Clearly the other girls liked her as well, because Veronica had invited her to her birthday.

Betty was getting ready for Veronica's birthday, hogging the bathroom much to Kevin's annoyance, when her phone started vibrating on the vanity unit next to her eye shadow palette. Her sister's picture and name flashed on the screen and she stopped what she was doing to pick it up.

"Polly?" Betty said carefully, _desperately_ hoping that it was her sister and it wasn't one of her parents hijacking her phone so that Betty would actually speak to one of them.

"Betty," Polly Cooper breathed down the line, delight clear in her voice.

"Polly!" Betty cried, letting happiness rush through her. "Oh my god—it is so good to hear your voice!"

"I know, baby sis," Polly agreed. "I know. I meant to call you so much sooner, but I thought that maybe letting you settle down after your big move and all the shit you're getting from mum." Alice had actually managed to refrain from calling Betty too much, limiting her snippy conversations to just once a week, but they were still emotionally draining and Betty always let out a full body sigh of relief when they were finally over. "So anyway, how are you doing? What are you doing?"

"Well," Betty managed to stop herself from licking her lips, because she had just painted them with a dark red lipstick that she had brought while out shopping with Val the previous weekend. "I'm working? And I'm starting a new course in about a month?" Her words were tentative, seeking approval from her older sister even though she knew that Polly would be happy for her.

"Really? That's amazing! Where are you working—what course are you planning on doing? Wait—is it early childhood? I remember you always wanted to do something like that. Or even a teaching degree? You'd be a good teacher...Shit, you're actually doing this without mum and dad's help? I just thought about that! You really are acting like a grown up, Betty!" Polly was rambling, and Betty was just grinning at her reflection in the mirror.

Words could not describe how much she missed her sister.

"Shit, Polly," Betty laughed. "One question at a time."

"Okay, well, come _on_. I want to know everything! And I especially want to know about this boy who keeps showing up on your Facebook page," Polly's tone was suggestive. Betty grinned at her reflection, knowing exactly what her sister was talking about. In the times that they had gone out—the whole group—Veronica was almost constantly taking photos, and given Betty and Jughead just gravitated toward each other, there were multiple photos of the pair of them together. There was one particular photo that was her favourite, standing in front of Jughead's bike, Betty half turned away from the camera, her hand resting on Jughead's chest, and Jughead was looking down at her with a soft expression, his arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, that's, uh, that's Jughead," Betty admitted. "He's...My boyfriend, I guess? That sounds really high school. We're dating."

"Well, he's cute," Polly declared. "Although what kind of name is Jughead?"

"It's a nickname—"

"Betty! Our ride is here!" Kevin shouted from his bedroom, where he had been getting ready. Betty's eyes widened as she realized that she still had to finish her eye make up.

"Is that Kevin?" Polly asked. "Are you going out?"

"Yeah, it's a friends birthday tonight," Betty answered, feeling regretful that she needed to end the call with her sister. "Sorry..."

"No, no, you go out. Have fun! I'm just glad that...I'm glad that you're enjoying yourself. You deserve this," Polly said softly.

"I love you, Polly," Betty told her sister.

"I love you too, Betty," Polly murmured. "Make sure you text me, okay? I miss you." Betty repeated the sentiment before the sisters ended their call. Betty quickly finished the make up around her eyes, dark eye shadow on her lids and lining her eyes. She was wearing a grey dress that dipped low in the front, little ties like almost a corset lacing up over her cleavage and showing off more skin than she would usually be comfortable with, and skimmed the top of her thighs. The material was tight, clinging to her slim figure, and she finished the outfit with a strappy pair of sandals. Veronica and Val had insisted that the dress looked great on her, and Cheryl had even looked up from her phone for a millisecond and grunted, before the whole event had lost her interest.

"Betty!" Kevin called impatiently, now in the lounge.

"Coming!" Betty called back, tucking her phone into the little purse that she was taking and picking up the cropped leather jacket that was slung over the towel rack. Kevin wolf-whistled as she came out and leaned in to give her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"You're a babe," he stated before nodding at the door. "Now let's go, go, go!" He urged her, and Betty grinned as she picked up the pace. Parked at the curb was Archie's pick up truck, but it was Jughead behind the wheel, his beanie securely on his head and a slow smile crossing his face as he caught a glimpse of Betty.

"Looking hot, Betts!" Archie called out as she and Kevin got into the backseat of the pick up truck. "And you're looking dashing as usual, Kev."

"I know," Kevin hummed out with a smirk. Jughead stayed quiet, but he caught Betty's eye in the rear view mirror, giving her a small, private smile that made her blush and suck her lower lip into her mouth, forgetting all about the lipstick that she had just applied. It took almost half an hour to get to Cheryl and Veronica's apartment in the Saturday night traffic, and they had to park halfway down the street because there were so many cars. That shouldn't have surprised her, really, because Veronica just had a personality that attracted people, plus there was just the usual cars parked up because it was Saturday.

Jughead locked up the truck and shoved the keys in his pocket, circling around the car to put his arm around Betty, his hand resting on her hip, as they started walking toward the apartment. They could already hear the music playing as they got to the driveway and they took the stairs up to the top row of flats where the girls lived.

"Betty!" Val cried, stumbling out the door, a red solo cup in her hand and a grin on her face as she saw the blonde approaching.

"Oh, shit," Betty laughed as Val threw her arms around her, and Betty needed to take a step back to steady herself.

"Jughead," Val smirked, saluting the dark haired man with the hand that wasn't around Betty, splashing some alcohol over the brim over her cup. "Kevin," she nodded at Kevin and then her eyebrows raised and she practically cooed, "Archie."

"Hey, Val," Archie gave her a small smile and Betty looked over at Kevin pointedly, who grinned and wiggled his eyebrows back.

"We need to get you a drink!" Val announced, grabbing Betty's hand and dragging her into the apartment, which was so full that there was barely any room to turn around. There were so many glass bottles of drinks on the bench, various liquids spilled on the pale surface, half filled cups scattered over the benches and then also on the table that was in the adjoining lounge. Val mixed together a drink and shoved it into Betty's hand, clinking their cups together before throwing back the rest of hers. Betty was hesitant, sniffing at what was in the cup. "Come on, Betty babe! Just drink it!" Betty looked over to where Jughead was standing, rolling his eyes and smiling slightly at something that Archie had said, and then over at Kevin, who had found Veronica and was laughing with her.

"Eh, what the hell?" She muttered with a shrug before tipping her head back and drinking half of what was in the cup. Val cheered and clapped before snatching it back from her and refilling it, along with her own.

"Betty!" Veronica cried out as she saw Betty, untangling herself from Kevin and running over to Betty, almost tripping over the leg of one of her party guests who was sitting on the ground with his legs spread out in front of him. "Oi, fucker, _move out of the walkway_!" Veronica snapped before looking back up at Betty with a wide smile on her face. "I told you! I _told_ you that you'd look fucking hot!" Betty blushed, because Veronica's loud voice drew the attention of some of the others around them, including Jughead, who just continued to look at her with a small smile.

"Yeah, thanks, Ronnie," Betty rolled her eyes with an embarrassed smile.

"And we need to get you drunk," Veronica stated.

"I'm working on it!" Val piped up as she passed Betty another cup.

"Good," Veronica grinned. "Mix me one as well."

"Coming right up," Val announced, taking the gaudy plastic cup that was shaped into wine glass, with balloons etched into the surface and _Birthday Girl_ in swirly writing wrapped around it. Cheryl came over, looking as divine as usual in a red dress that clung to her figure, so short it showed off her ass as she walked and the hem flicked up and so low that Betty was worried that she might fall out if she leaned over. Her hair was pinned high and her lips were blood red, and she wrapped a possessive arm around Veronica's shoulders as Val handed her back the plastic cup.

Maybe it was because she was one of the only sober ones in the room, or maybe it was because she was watching them so closely, but Betty seemed to be one of the only ones that noticed Cheryl lean in close to Veronica and whisper something in her ear, her lips resting far longer than needed against her cheek.

"Those two really need to sort their shit out," Val stated, making Betty jump in surprise. Val grinned and then pursed her lips together. "You know, how about I take care of that hunk for the evening?" She nodded over at Archie, who had been glancing their way every couple of minutes. "If I get him out of the way, maybe those two will get drunk enough to start eating each others faces off." Betty frowned, tilting her head to the side as she looked at Val.

"Uh..."

"Or just admitting their feelings, whatever, I don't care," Val shrugged. "Honestly, Cheryl kind of scares me and Veronica is responsible for growing her own balls to get the courage to talk to her. I honestly just want to climb that man like a tree," she pointed over to Archie, who was now aware that the girls were talking about him and was looking over questioningly.

"Alright, well...Have at it?" Betty scrunched up her nose adorably. Val let out a weird squeal, leaning forward to give Betty a quick kiss on the cheek before skipping over to where Archie and Jughead were standing. Jughead stood there for all of two seconds before he seemed to realize exactly what Val's intention was, and then he quickly left the two alone. He came over to Betty, pointing to the cup in her hand.

"Just how potent is that?" He questioned with a wry smile.

"Pretty bad," Betty answered with a huff of laughter. Veronica was dancing again, along with about five or six other people, and Cheryl was watching with blatant lust written all over her face. Veronica seemed oblivious to Cheryl's looks and waved her arm over at Betty.

"Come dance!" She shouted out.

"I'm going to need this to make it through the evening," Betty looked down at her cup and cringed before she drank the whole thing. Jughead let out a laugh as he leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss on her mouth before she joined Veronica in the middle of the lounge, bouncing up and down to the weird, pop music that she didn't doubt Cheryl had picked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed it :)


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, pretty people!

"So that's happening," Kevin snorted as he looked over the brim of his red cup.

"They really _are_ eating each others faces," Betty screwed up her nose and tipped her head to the side. She ended up continuing to tip to the side, her body almost completely twisted to the side, nearly tobbling over until Jughead reached out and gripped her wrist, and straightened her back up again. Betty giggled and leaned against him. Jughead shook his head in amusement, looping an arm around her waist.

"This really isn't something that I want to be watching," Jughead stated, the smile disappearing from his face as he looked back over at Veronica and Cheryl, who were practically climbing on top of each on the couch in the corner of the room.

"I thought all you straight men were into all this girl on girl action," Kevin pointed out, his words slightly slurred as he slumped backwards against the bench behind him.

"Maybe I would be, if one of them wasn't like my sister and the other one was humanoid-like piranha," he stated dryly. Betty snorted at the discription of Cheryl, turning her head to look at Jughead.

He was pretty.

He was _really_ pretty.

Kevin started laughing and Jughead raised his eyebrow at Betty. Usually, she would have blushed as she realized that she had actually made those comments out loud rather than just thinking them in her head. But she was drunk—having emptied far too many of those cups that Val had given her—and so she just grinned and patted Jughead on the side of the face.

"So I'm thinking that maybe we should head home?" Jughead suggested.

"What's the time?" Betty asked, as if she really cared. They had been here for a long time, Veronica and Cheryl were officially getting it on, Val and Archie looked as though they were only a couple of steps away from literally having sex in the doorway that lead outside, and Kevin's eyes kept closing, like he was going to fall asleep standing up.

"Nearly three," Jughead replied, looking down at his phone.

"I'm good to go when ya'll are," Betty announced, probably speaking more loudly than she needed to. There was an adorable smile on Jughead's face as he shook his head.

"' _Ya'll_ '," he mocked lightly under his breath with a grin before nodding. "You ready to go, Kev?" Kevin nodded. They didn't bother trying to get Veronica's attention to tell her that they were leaving, although it did take a few moments to manage to tear Val and Archie apart. It was quickly established that they were going to be taking Val in the car with them, and dropping the pair of them off at Archie's place. Kevin lost the sloppy paper-scissors-rock as to who was going to be in the backseat with the love birds, and Betty happily got into the front seat, letting Jughead help her with her seat belt.

She wasn't sure when the decision was made that she was going back to Jughead's rather than to Kevin's, although she did remember putting up a bit of a fight when Kevin teasingly asked if she was going to be coming inside. She was half asleep, zoning in and out when they dropped off Val and Archie, and only woke up properly at Jughead's house when he reached over and shook her arm lightly.

"Hey, babe," his voice was soft, and sweet, and Betty couldn't help her dopey smile. "Let's get you inside to bed."

"Okay," Betty nodded, waiting for Jughead to come around and open up the door for her. As the cool, night breeze brushed over her face, it woke her up, and she became very aware of just how good Jughead smelt and how strong and warm his body was against hers. She managed to refrain herself from shoving him against one of the cars in his garage until they _finally_ got up the spiral staircase to his flat upstairs. Jughead kicked off his shoes and walked into the lounge to find a light.

She managed to untangle herself from her strappy sandals, and then she pounced.

The kiss was messy, and full of teeth and lips and tongue, and Jughead took a moment to catch up to what was actually happening as Betty grabbed his shoulders and pressed their mouths together. Betty was leaning her full weight against Jughead, and he rested his hands gently on her hips, giving them a slight squeeze. When one of her feet got caught on the leg of the coffee table and she tripped, she was only saved from sprawling across the ground by Jughead grabbing her arms. He let out a laugh, shaking his head as he looked down at her.

"You're drunk," he stated, his dark brown eyes playful.

"And you're pretty," Betty responded with a smirk, her eyes glancing down, dropping from his lips to his waist. Or more specifically, his the buckle of his belt.

"Right, that's what every guy wants to hear," Jughead shook his head as he pulled back at her, his lips curling upwards in a soft smile.

"Your laugh is pretty too," Betty added, licking her lips. Jughead noticed the shift in her expression, how she looked a little nervous now. He tilted his head to the side as he waited for her to make the first move. Betty wasn't exactly a pro at this, it wasn't something that she had done a lot, but right now her inhibitions were completely lowered and she wasn't really thinking as she pulled away from Jughead and fell to her knees in front of him.

"Oh, Betty, you don't have—"

"I know I don't have to," Betty mumbled in a way that she hoped was sexy and not slurred. She looked up at Jughead from under her eyelashes, which were thick and heavy from the eyeliner that she had layered on. Even in the hazy light, only coming from the lamp that Jughead had turned on before she had all but thrown herself at him, it was obvious as Jughead gulped. He was biting down on his lip so hard that he was worried it might actually start bleeding as Betty tugged at the buckle of his belt and then at the zipper of his jeans. She pulled them down just enough that she could reach inside and pull out his cock. It was hard and hot in her hand, and Jughead let out a groan as Betty leaned forward and blew a gentle breath of hot air over the head.

"Fuck, Betts," Jughead groaned, looking for something to grip onto. They had stumbled away from the furniture though, and so when Betty took him into the warm cavern of her mouth, it was her hair that his fingers sunk into. Betty was surprised at the pressure on her scalp, but it sent a hot spike to her centre, and her hips bucked forward helplessly.

Even if Betty hadn't admitted that she wasn't the most experienced, Jughead would have been able to gather it. She was tentative at times, when they were in bed, or now, when she reached into his briefs and touched his sac gently with her fingers, as though she was worried that she was going to do something wrong. Or the way she got a little bit too enthusiastic as she was giving him head and went down a bit too far on his cock and gagged.

But Betty was the best that he had ever been with, because Jughead knew that he was going to wake up next to her, and feel even better than he did right now.

"Shit, shit, _shit_ ," Jughead tugged at Betty's hair, forcing her to pull off and look up at him with a worried expression.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked, looking concerned and _completely_ defiled with swollen, sticky lips. Jughead had no words for just how good she looked, her hair a total mess, the front of her dress untied and falling open so that her breasts were almost completely exposed. He bent down, holding her face in his hands as he kissed her, ignoring the way their teeth knocked together as they tilted their faces together to try and get a better angle with their difference in height. Betty was making little whimpering noises at the back of her throat, and his cock was dripping from where it was hanging out of his jeans and briefs.

"You did absolutely nothing wrong," Jughead managed to say between kisses. "I just didn't want to come in your mouth..." that was partially a lie, because he did want to come in her mouth, it was just he wanted to come while he was inside her more. One of his hands cupped her breasts, massaging it roughly and flicking at the hard nipple before he slid both hands under her arms and hauled her to her feet. "Come on," he mumbled, tugging her behind him as they stumbled down the hallway to his bedroom.

"Shit..." Betty mumbled as Jughead's hands gripped the hem of her dress, pushing it up around her hips and gripping the sides of her underwear, jerking them down. Betty kicked them off from around her ankles and let out a throaty moan as Jughead turned her around, so that her hands were braced against his desk. There was the sound of Jughead taking off his own clothes, and then she felt his hands smooth over the skin of her hips and her ass, and she couldn't help but thrust herself backwards, searching for more contact than just his hands.

"Hold on, baby," Jughead murmured, leaning forward and pressing kisses against her shoulder before his warmth was gone. Betty wiggled her hips impatiently, tipping her head from side to side, feeling it swim from all the alcohol in her veins. Just a few moments later, Jughead was back, and she heard the crinkling of the condom wrapper. And then, one hand was flattened on her lower back, another on her hip, and he was pushing inside her.

"Oh, _god_ ," Betty whined, her body falling further forward over the desk. Her legs felt shaky—from the pleasure, from the alcohol—and it felt as though they were going to give out from underneath her as Jughead drove into her, over and over again. Jughead held her up, and Betty clenched around him as she felt her orgasm rushing through her, coming in from her fingertips and her toes, unfurling through her body until it completely filled her. " _Fuck_!" Betty cried out as she felt her release, her thighs quivering as she felt juices spill down them.

"Shit, Betty—you feel amazing," Jughead's voice caught in his throat as his own orgasm got closer to the surface. From the way that they were positioned, with Betty bent over the desk, her legs pressed together, she was even tighter than usual, and her moans and whimpers sounded like music to his ears. He grabbed onto her hips with both hands, the slapping of skin on skin getting louder as he chased after his orgasm, letting out a loud groan that filled the room as he spilled into the condom. He thrust into her one last time before slumping forward, his body blanketing over Betty's. They were quiet for a long few moments, both of them steadying out their breathing, before Betty twisted her head to the side and Jughead gave her a quick kiss on the mouth.

"I'm ready to sleep now," she mumbled and Jughead snorted in amusement.

"Okay, babe. Let's go to bed."


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter, beautiful :)

"Betty? You're going to draw with me on Monday, right?" Gordon Stevens asked, tugging on Betty's pants. "Please?" He was absolutely adorable, with little glasses that always slid down his nose, and today he had some paint on his cheek.

"Absolutely," Betty nodded as she crouched down in front of Gordon, rubbing her thumb gently at his cheek and getting rid of most of the flaking paint.

"Promise?" Gordon persisted, holding up his pinky finger in front of his face.

"I promise," Betty replied, reaching up and hooking her pinky finger around the boys. His smile widened even more before he turned on his heel and ran out of the building, to where his mother was waiting outside. Val was finishing up cleaning in the kitchen area, and Betty joined her to start drying the dishes.

"Alright, so, Kevin's all good with me showering and getting changed at your place, right?" Val checked as she pulled out the plug at the bottom of the sink.

"Yup," Betty grinned as she wiped down a couple of the plastic plates that they had used for lunch for the kids. "He said as long as we don't hog the bathroom, he's all good."

"That place must be getting a little crowded, though, right?" Val raised an eyebrow as she rinsed off a cloth to begin wiping down the benches. "I mean, he's only got a one bedroom place, and that pull out couch can't be the most comfortable thing in the world."

"It's definitely not the most ideal situation," Betty shrugged. "But it's working for now. Actually, Cheryl and Veronica's lease is up in about a month, and they were thinking about finding another apartment. Veronica said that I was welcome to move in with them, and they were looking at places nearby the University, so it would be better for me when I have classes. I'd be getting my own room, which would be bloody amazing. I'm gonna have to get a bus for work, coz there's no way I can afford a car—"

"And you know Jughead will always be more than happy to take you home afterwards," Val smirked and leaned over to nudge Betty's arm. Betty rolled her eyes but there was a faint blush on her cheeks. "Anyway, we need to head out! We need to rush, or else we're going to be walking all night from a parking spot on the other side of the city."

"Right, these things get a little crowded, right?" Betty asked as she put away the final pile of plastic plates.

"A little crowded?" Val raised an eyebrow at the blonde. "It's the LA Lakers! They're in the NBA!" She said it like it was meant to mean something, and Betty could totally understand that basketball was a big thing for her—and for the rest of her group of friends—but it was probably one of the last things in the world that she was interested in. She was all for watching muscular, sweaty men running around in shorts and singlets, but she didn't think for a moment that she was actually going to be able to follow what was happening. Veronica had assured her that going to a game live was nowhere near as boring as having to watch it over the TV, the atmosphere was completely different, so that was good. Kevin had won tickets for the LA Lakers game that was on tonight in some radio show, and Betty had been hoping that she would finally get to meet Joaquin. Unfortunately, he was apparently working late, and so Kevin had invited Val to take the extra ticket. She had been hanging around them a whole lot more recently, especially since her and Archie seemed to be getting more serious.

"Well, I will attempt to get into it?" Betty cringed and lifted an eyebrow.

"Don't worry, we'll make a Lakers girl out of you yet," Val winked at her. "I've got an extra shirt for you in my bag, and I'll paint your face before we go."

"Paint my face?" Betty looked bewildered. "Uh..."

"Cheryl and Veronica will have their faces painted as well," Val stated. "You're going to love it." The kitchen was clean, and the the rest of the day care was pretty much tidied, with one of the older ladies finishing up the mat area, packing up the toys and books. "Hey, Jenn!" Val called as she leaned down the hallway to where Jenn was in the sleeping room, folding the blankets. "We're going to head out now!"

"Sure thing, girls! Enjoy your weekend!" Jenn called back to them, her voice muffled through the wall. "I'll see you on Monday!"

"Bye, Jenn!" Betty added as she hung her cloth over the handle of the oven so that it could air dry. She and Val grabbed their bags and keys and then headed out of the daycare centre. Val had a car, a rusted thing that her mother had given her when she had upgraded, so Betty got into the passenger side of the car as she waited for Val to unlock it.

The game started at eight o'clock, but for some reason, the boys had insisted that they needed to be there by half past six. Betty didn't really mind, since they would get home just before four and they had plenty of time to shower and get ready. Cheryl, on the other hand, had complained for almost a whole hour when Kevin and Archie had said that they would need to leave early, because she needed longer than that to get ready. Veronica had just rolled her eyes and smushed her lips against her girlfriends to get her to shut up.

They took turns shower, and then Betty rummaged through Val's bag to pull out two purple shirts, one of them a singlet and another one a tee-shirt, both with yellow lining and white writing. She picked the tee-shirt and went into Kevin's room to change, wearing a pair of black shorts that were almost completely covered by the shirt. Val got dressed and after they did their make up, Val painted purple and yellow stripes on either side of Betty's face, like army stripes, with the colours alternating. Kevin got home as Val was painting Betty's face, and he headed straight for the shower, getting ready a lot quicker than they had. He had a Lakers cap that he pulled on as well, nodding with approval as he saw Betty's attire.

"You'll fit right in," he grinned at her as he threw an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she pulled it out, seeing a text from Jughead to let them know that they were almost at their place.

"Boys will be here soon," Betty said.

"Great, do you want to let Ronnie know that we're leaving here? So that they can leave their place?" Kevin asked and Betty nodded, replying to Jughead and then texting Veronica as well, since Veronica was going to take her own car with Cheryl. Archie's pick up arrived a couple of minutes later, with Jughead in the passenger seat, and Betty, Val and Kevin filed out of the house, cramming into the backseat of the truck. Jughead reached back and squeezed Betty's knee by way of a welcome, and Val ruffled Archie's hair.

Despite getting to the arena almost two hours before the game started, they still ended up parking in a parking garage that required them to walk nearly twenty minutes. Cheryl and Veronica managed to find somewhere closer, so they got them a place in the line that was crowded all over the sidewalk, saving a spot for them.

Once they got inside the arena, it was so loud, and so crowded, Betty knew for a fact that she would have gotten completely lost if Jughead wasn't firmly holding one of her hands and Kevin had his arm linked through her other one. Cheryl kept giving people dirty looks as they bumped into her, and Betty ducked her head to hide her smile as they finally managed to get through to the stands and their walkway was even _more_ narrow, causing more people to push into them. Archie found their seats first and shouted over the crowds head to get his friends attention.

"Holy shit," Veronica breathed out heavily as they finally got to their seats. "That took long enough." Betty grinned at her from where she was sitting to one side, Jughead on her other side.

"Okay, so I need a hot dog," Archie announced.

"The boys practically view it as mandatory to eat as many hot dog as they can through the game," Veronica informed Betty.

"What do you mean 'practically'?" Jughead snorted and raised an eyebrow. "They stuff themselves with so many hot dogs here that I've actually needed to carry Arch out of here."

"That was one time!" Archie protested as Val laughed at the mans indignant expression.

"It was twice, actually," Jughead retorted.

"So I'm guessing you don't buy into all of this?" Betty raised an eyebrow at Jughead in amusement. Jughead pursed his lips and tilted his head to the side, but from the noise that Archie and Kevin started making, Betty could already assume the answer. Jughead smirked and rolled his eyes, before looking over Betty's head and lifting up his arm as though waving at someone. When Betty turned around and looked in the direction that Jughead was facing, she could see a man walking up and down the metal stairs, selling hot dogs.

"Can we get six hot dogs?" Jughed called out, and then man nodded. "Do you want one?" Jughead asked as the boys began digging around in their pockets for their wallets.

"Wait—you just got six? Isn't one of them for me?" Betty looked confused.

"Nope," Kevin laughed as he passed down his money to Jughead, so that he could pass it down to the vendor. "Two for each of us." Betty laughed and shook her head.

"Nah, I'm not hungry at the moment," she replied. The boys passed down their money and soon had a hot dog in each hand. Val managed to snag herself a bite from one of Archie's hot dogs, but the boys were pretty protective over their food. Music was playing loudly through the speakers, and the commentators were keeping the crowd hyped up. Everyone was so full of energy, and Betty had to admit that her friends had been right, the whole atmosphere felt completely different from the times that she had been forced to watch with friends and family.

When the cheerleaders came out, there were cheers, and everyone jumped to their feet. Betty couldn't help but grin and laugh and jump up and down along with everyone else. Once the game started, she could barely even hear herself think. She really had no idea what was going on around, and only knew when the Lakers were pulling ahead or scoring points because of the reaction of those round her, but she couldn't stop smiling.

It was late by the time they left, and Kevin and Val had drunk more than their fair share of cheap beer out of plastic cups. Cheryl and Veronica separated from them right out of the arena, Cheryl smiling one of her rare, genuine smiles, and Veronica letting her hand rest on Cheryl's lower back, edging closer to the swell of her ass. Kevin and Val were singing off key to some song that had been playing inside, and Archie was attempting to keep them both walking on the foot path rather than stumbling onto the road. Jughead and Betty were bringing up the rear, Betty tucked in close to Jughead's side, protecting her against the cold of the evening, every now and then pressing kisses against her temple.

"Ooh," Betty felt her phone buzzing in her back pocket, and she pulled away from Jughead so that she could get out her phone. Polly's name was on the screen, and she smiled, swiping her thumb over the screen and lifting her phone to her ear. "Polly! Hey—"

"Betty?" Polly's voice didn't sound right, and Betty frowned, slowing her pace. Jughead paused as well, cocking an eyebrow in question at her. "It's mum. Something—I don't know the details but she had a crash."

"What?" Betty completely stopped, her heart pounding in her chest. "Polly, what happened?"

"It was bad, Betty. She had a car crash, and she's in hospital."


	18. Chapter 18

Jughead hadn't listened to a word of her protests when he had booked her a flight back home using his credit. She had enough money for the ticket, given it was going to be a red eye and she wasn't taking much luggage with her, but Jughead had said that she needed to keep the little earned money that she had saved for later. He had even offered to come with her, although there had been some tension in his shoulders when he had said that. While Betty had appreciated the offer, she had told him that this was something that she needed to do on her own.

Her mother was already in hospital, she didn't want to show up with a boy who wore leather jackets and rode around on a motorbike.

That had the potential to put her mother in the grave.

Kevin was worried about her going back, scared that she was somehow going to be tricked into staying at Riverdale. Betty had all but ignored Kevin, saying that right now, she wasn't thinking about herself, she just needed to get back to her family and make sure that her mum was okay.

She barely slept on the flight, which was short, only three hours. Riverdale itself didn't have an airport, so she was flying into a nearby city and Polly was picking her up. The plan took off from Los Angeles just after two in the morning—just a few hours after she had left the Lakers game with her friends—and so she really should have been trying to get some sleep, but she was too wired. She tried to read the book that she had grabbed from Kevin's bookcase as she had been throwing stuff in her canvas bag, but she kept loosing her place on the first page. She tried flicking through the magazine that she had grabbed from one the stores in the airport, but the stories about vapid celebrities really didn't interest her. So she settled for staring aimlessly out the window, at the dark night passing by.

All Betty had taken with her had been one canvas bag, with a couple of sets of clothes. Polly had said that she would meet her at the airport and hopefully by the time she got there, they would know something more about their mothers condition. If worst came to worst and she needed to stay in Riverdale a bit longer, she could always just borrow some of Polly's clothes.

When unloading from the plane and walking into the airport, there was barely anyone waiting. Most of the people on the flight were returning home from business trips or vacations away, and had cars in long term parking or were getting picked up by car companies who would be waiting outside. It was easy to find Polly, who was wearing a bright pink jacket, her blonde hair piled in a messy bun on top of her head.

"Betty!" Polly cried out when she saw her sister coming through the arrival gate.

"Polly!" Betty called back as she picked up the pace, jogging toward Polly with her canvas bag bumping against her hip. The two sisters met, throwing their arms around each other and hugging one another tightly.

"Holy shit, it's been way too long since I've seen you, baby sis," Polly murmured as they finally pulled apart.

"I know, I—"

"Are you wearing make up?" Polly asked as she brushed the hair out of Betty's face, getting a proper look at her. "And what's on your face?" When Betty had rushed back to Kevin's after Polly's call, she had haphazardly scrubbed off the paint that Val had put on her cheeks, but she had caught her reflection a couple of times on the plane and seen that there were still some remnants left.

"We were at a basketball game," Betty said by way of answer, and Polly looked confused but nodded.

"You look good," Polly told her, looping her arm through one of Betty's. "I'm sorry you had to come back like this." Betty's smile dropped off her face and a grim expression replaced it as they walked quickly out of the airport. It was just after five in the morning, and both sisters were tired, but they were running on adrenaline as Polly paid for their parking and they headed into the parking lot.

"So do they know what happened?" Betty asked as she put her bag in the backseat of Polly's car and then got into the passenger side of the front.

"They weren't too sure what it was when I left," Polly answered, her voice soft as she looked over at her sister from the drivers side. "But they said that it might have been...It might have been a heart attack."

"A...A heart attack?" Betty's eyes widened. Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest and her nose suddenly felt incredibly itchy, the way it always did just before she started to cry. "Oh my god—so is she okay? What's happening now?"

"She's in the hospital and dad's there with her, they're going to run some tests," Polly replied as she put on her seat belt and turned the key in the ignition. "Dad said to pick you up and then go home to try and get some sleep, I haven't gone to bed yet."

"I don't know if I'll be able to sleep," Betty replied honestly as she leaned back in her seat. "I tried on the plane, and my brain just wouldn't turn off." Polly nodded, looking as though she understood, as she drove out of the parking lot. The two sisters were quiet on the drive back to Riverdale, and the sun was starting to come up when they arrived back at the Cooper family home. The car ride had lulled Betty into a relaxed state, and she did actually feel tired by the time they pulled into the driveway. Polly turned of the engine of the car, and the two sisters got out of the car.

"Dad said he'll be home in a few hours to get changed and have something to eat," Polly reported as she looked down at her phone.

"Okay," Betty felt the tension filling her body again, despite how tired she had been just a few minutes before.

"Come on," Polly reached over and squeezed her shoulder. "You need some rest before facing mum and dad." She was right, and Betty really hoped that she could push away just how worried she was about her mother, and how nervous she was about seeing her father, and manage to get just a couple of hours sleep. The sisters got inside the house, walking up the stairs to where their childhood bedrooms were. Betty couldn't help but curl her upper lip as she stepped into her old bedroom, a place she hadn't been inside for almost a whole year. Everything was sickly pink and it took her back to when she was an insecure teenager, just wanting to make her parents happy.

"Hey, Polly?" Betty called out before her sister disappeared into her own room. Polly glanced over at her and the younger girl took in a deep breath. "How did mum look?" Polly bit down on her lower lip in a way that was very reminiscent of the way Betty did when she was nervous.

"She looked...Small," Polly winced. "I don't know if that's the right word, but...She just looked weak in the bed, her make up and hair all messed up. I'm not used to seeing her look like that, you know she doesn't like being seen any less than perfect." Betty nodded slowly and took in a shaky breath. "Get some sleep. I'll set my alarm for a few hours and wake you up, okay?" Betty nodded and walked into her bedroom. She stripped out of her jacket and the jeans that she was wearing, slipping her bra off from underneath her shirt and then climbed into her bed. It smelt like the perfume that she used to wear when she was in high school, the scent still lingering in the air even though it was a bit stale, and she tried to push back the memories that rose at the familiar scent.

Just before she fell asleep, she remembered that her phone was still stuck in her bag, and she rolled over and pulled her canvas bag closer to the side of the bed, digging around to find her phone. There were so many messages from Jughead, Kevin, Veronica, Val, Archie and even one from Cheryl, although it was simply one line, saying that she hoped her mother was okay. She quickly sent off a couple of texts, letting them know that she had arrived safely and that she would be seeing her mother soon. Jughead was the last one that she messaged, pausing as she saw the last message that had come through from him.

_Just let me know if you need me. I'll be on the next flight down._

Betty couldn't help the tired smile that crossed her face, her heart pounding faster in her chest.

_Thank you. I'll let you know how things are when I get to the hospital._

* * *

Betty woke up before Polly, it was just before ten. She had a shower, dried her hair and got changed into a pair of jeans and a loose shirt before walking downstairs. The house was laid out exactly the same; the same photos hanging on the wall, the same ornaments on the hallway table, the couches and armchairs positioned in the exact same way. It was almost creepy the way the house just never changed. She went into the kitchen, noting that there was a coffee mug and a plate with crumbs on it beside the sink. Her mother would never let dishes just sit there, so she assumed that her father had already come home and left already after having some breakfast.

"Morning, Betts," Polly said as she came in, dressed in a jeans and a purple sweatshirt.

"Hey, Polly," Betty glanced over at her sister.

"Dad text me, about seven this morning. Said that he came back for a change of clothes and then breakfast and then headed back out. Mum's in stable condition, and so we can go in and see her," Polly told her. "We'll just have breakfast and then head in, sound okay?"

"Okay," Betty nodded and walked over to the cupboard, taking out bread and putting a few slices into the toaster.

"So..." Polly sat down at the table and looked at her younger sister, a small smile on her face.

"So?" Betty raised an eyebrow.

"This boy," Polly prompted, her smile growing as Betty's cheeks flushed pink, ducking her head and looking back at the toaster just so she didn't have to keep looking at her older sister. "Jughead, right?"

"Yeah..." Betty licked her lips before nodding. "He's friends with Kevin. Or, he's best friends with Archie, who's friends with Kevin, they sort of hang out in a group with a few others, and they've all been awesome since I moved to LA. He runs this garage that his dad used to own before he walked out on them. He dropped out of school, never actually finished or anything because his mum needed some extra income to keep things afloat with him and his little sister. He's pretty quiet, and he doesn't smile all that much, but when he does it just makes it all that much more special, you know?" Betty didn't even realize she was rambling as Polly watched her, a grin on her pretty face. "And he rides a motorbike—a _motorbike_! It was so scary when I first got on it with him, but it's so much fun now. He always makes sure I'm safe, always has a spare helmet for me, and—"

"Betty, Betty, Betty," Polly interrupted her with a laugh.

"Huh?" Betty blinked.

"The toast," Polly pointed behind the girl and Betty turned around to see that their toast had popped up.

"Oh, right," Betty pulled out two plates and put them on the bench. Polly was quiet as Betty buttered the toast and then put jam on the four slices before coming over to the table, putting one plate in front of Polly and taking the other one for herself as she sat down on the opposite side of the table.

"Sounds like you really like him," Polly murmured as Betty took her first bite.

"I do," Betty said through a mouthful of toast, and Polly laughed. Betty swallowed her mouthful and grinned at her sister.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter!

"What about you?" Betty asked Polly when they were in the car, driving to the hospital.

"What about me what?" Polly raised an eyebrow as she looked across at her sister.

"Are you seeing anyone? Mum fixed you up with some guy who's going to buy you a pretty house with a white picket fence and pop out a bunch of adorable, blonde babies?" She said it as though she was teasing, but she really wouldn't put it past Alice Cooper. Polly went quiet for a few moments and Betty's smile dropped as she waited for the other girl to respond, realizing that there must actually be someone serious on the scene.

"There is someone, actually," Polly began, speaking slowly, flexing her fingers around the steering wheel. "I haven't told mum and dad about him yet, though." Betty's eyebrows lifted high at that. It wasn't like Polly to keep a secret from their parents, especially their mum. "Um, his name is Jason. He's...He's great," there was a soft smile on her face. "His family is really uptight, kinda like our parents, you know? So he gets the kind of stress that I'm under to be...To be the perfect daughter, and everything," she gave a one shouldered shrug. "I haven't officially met his parents either, but I've seen his mum around town and she's one scary looking lady." Betty let out a laugh at the wide eyed look on her sisters face. "He wants me to meet his sister first—she actually lives in Los Angeles, like you! He goes up there quite a bit to visit her."

"Really?" Betty asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Polly smiled. "We're going to fly out there in a couple of months time, so I'll have to meet this man who's got you all blushing and happy."

"That'll be good," Betty nodded, and then noticed a sign, indicating how close they were to the hospital. It was going to be her first time actually seeing her parents in months. She flew home for Christmas for almost two weeks before going back to New York. Just a few months later, she had dropped out of University and shifted her whole life across to Los Angeles. Polly didn't remember the way back to the hospital wing that Alice was being kept in, so after they parked the car, they had to go to the main reception desk to get directions. They walked down the long hallways that smelt like antiseptic, and took an elevator up to the third floor.

"Hi," Polly approached the smaller reception desk on that floor, the older woman looking up. "We're looking for Cooper—Alice Cooper."

"Polly," Betty said softly, catching a glimpse of her father in a room just down the hall. Polly nodded and lead the way toward the room. There was a doctor in there, talking to both Hal Cooper and Alice. The two sisters waited outside while the doctor was speaking, but they could clearly hear what the man was saying.

"...Can be brought on by extreme stress or anxiety," he was saying to the parents, who couldn't see their daughters from the way that they were facing. "At the moment, it's just important that you rest, regain your strength." The doctor gave them a small smile before turning around, and noticing the two girls for the first time. "You can come in, girls," he nodded at them, and Hal turned around, realizing that they were not alone in the room. Alice also saw them, pushing herself upward so that she was in a more seated position in the hospital bed.

Betty felt her chest tighten at the sight of her mother in the hospital bed. She could see exactly who what Polly meant when she had said that she looked small, and completely unlike the woman who had raised them. Her make up was all completely washed off, her hair was a mess around her face, and the expression on her face was the complete opposite of the strong, determined woman that she was used to.

"Polly," Hal's voice was tight, a pinched look on his face as he turned his eyes toward his youngest daughter. "Betty."

"Betty," Alice's voice was soft, and her expression matched it. She actually looked pleased to see Betty, which was completely different from what Betty expected after the way the conversations between herself and her mother had gone recently.

"What did the doctor say?" Polly asked, walking into the room, Betty walking behind her, feeling tentative. "Was it a heart attack, like they thought?" Betty glanced up at her father, but then quickly looked back at her mother when she saw the angry way he was staring directly at her.

"No," Alice shook her head, relief clear on her face as she leaned back against her pillow. The bed was propped up in a seated position, but even in the upright position, Alice looked as though she might fall asleep any minute. "No, it had a lot of the symptoms of a heart attack or a stroke, but it wasn't. I'm going to be absolutely fine," she reached out a hand, and Polly stepped forward, forcing Hal to move away from the bed and make room for the two sisters to stand at their mothers side. "I just need some rest, to take it easy for a few weeks. I'd been telling you about how I had been having chest pains?" Betty glanced at Polly and the older girl nodded.

"I _told_ you to go to the doctors about those," Polly gently chided.

"Yes, well, you got your wish," Alice gave a weak, tired smile, and Betty bit down on her lower lip. Alice squeezed Polly's hand and then looked up at Betty. "It's so good to see you, Betty," she said gently. "You're looking well." Betty licked her lips nervously as she stepped a little closer to her mother, resting her hand on her mothers knee through the thin blanket that she had thrown over her.

"I flew down as soon as Polly called me," Betty said, and Alice nodded, looking as though she appreciated it. "Do they...Do they know what happened?" She nervously looked over her shoulder, to where her father was standing. He had his arms crossed tightly over his chest as he glared at the women.

Or, really, he was glaring at _Betty_.

"It was a severe panic attack," Hal spoke up, and his voice was almost trembling with anger. Polly looked up at her father, who took a few steps closer to the two girls.

"Hal..." Alice began quietly.

"No!" Hal snapped at her, his voice getting louder, and Betty swallowed hard, glancing around, glad that they at least had a private room, so there was no one else who was getting a first person show of this performance. "Your mother has been under tremendous stress since you decided to leave _everything_ that we had planned for you—everything that we gave you!" Hal jabbed his finger in Betty's direction, and even though there was space between them, Betty took an abrupt step backwards, feeling the anger like a physical wave roll over her.

"Dad!" Polly snapped, reaching for Betty's arm.

"You were so close to getting your degree—a degree that your mother and I had been spending our hard earned money on! And you decided to selfishly just leave it behind, and go swanning off to LA, to be with that pansy sheriff's son!"

"Hal!" Alice's voice was weak, but it was clear that she was trying to stop her husbands tirade.

"No!" Hal growled, and Betty felt her eyes flooding with tears and the furious way her father was staring down at her. " _You're_ the reason for this! You were throwing everything that we had ever done for you back in our faces! You were smart, and you came from a family that was willing to give you everything that you needed to succeed in life! To make the best of yourself—to give you an incredible career! And you repay us by throwing it all back at us, by traipsing off across the country and by whoring yourself out to that—that _trash_ that you have plastered all over your Facebook page!"

"Hal!" Alice's voice was stronger now, and Polly chimed in as well, the anger on her face matching the older mans.

"That's enough!" Polly stated, stepping in front of Betty, shielding her younger sister with her body. "This wasn't Betty's fault!"

"Oh, yeah?" Hal's upper lip curled in disdain, and even though Polly was standing in front of her, Betty could still see her father, and her body felt cold, and the tears that were clouding her vision were threatening to spill over at any moment. "Isn't it a coincidence that your mother just started to have these chest pains and this level of anxiety in her life ever since your sister decided to act like an immature child and throw away all the plans that we ever had for you? And then _this_ happens?" He waved a hand at Alice, who was pale, and holding a hand to her chest, eyes darting between her husband and her daughters. "It's _your_ fault that your mother is in this bed, Elizabeth!"

"I—I'm sorry," Betty stammered out, feeling completely overwhelmed. Her mother was laying in a hospital bed, pale and hurting, and her father was staring at her as though she was the one who had brought everything bad into their lives. He had yelled at her before—both of her parents had yelled at her before. She had disagreements with them all through high school, straining against their rigid expectations of her. But she had always told herself that it wasn't her fault, that she hadn't done anything wrong, that wanting to be her own person, wanting to make her own path, wasn't wrong.

But now her mother was lying in a hospital bed.

And it was her fault.

What she had done was wrong.

"I'm sorry," Betty repeated again as a tear spilled down her cheek as she turned on her heel and walked rapidly from the room. She didn't bother waiting for an elevator, taking a right at the end of the hall so that she could push open the door for the staircase, breaking out in a run once she was out of eye sight of anyone in her mothers hospital room.


	20. Chapter 20

"Betty?...Betty?" Jughead's voice sounded so good, even though it was just through the phone and not in person. "Betty? Shit—are you crying?"

"I'm okay," Betty managed to stop sniffing, but she knew her voice sounded high pitched, and there was no way that she was convincing Jughead that she was _actually_ okay. It was a truly feeble attempt.

"Is everything alright? Is your mum okay? Have things gotten worse? Do you need me to come down there? Coz I told you, I would. I will—I can be there in a couple of hours," Jughead almost sounded frantic, and if this was any other time, she would be cheering on the fact that she managed to get Jughead to actually talk this much. Usually the only other time he spoke this much was if he was talking about Jellybean or if he and Archie were getting into one of their arguments about which one of the Power Rangers was better.

"No, it's okay, it's..." Betty took in a deep breath, looking around her. She had made it out of the hospital, and to the grassy park that was just outside. There were a couple of people there, one of them pushing one of the patients in a wheelchair, and another with two children, probably trying to get them to burn as much energy as they could before taking them into the hospital. The fresh air felt incredible on her hot cheeks, and just hearing Jughead's voice was calming her down, making her breathe more evenly.

"Betty!" Came a shout from behind her, and she turned around to see Polly running toward her.

"Oh, uh," Betty took in a deep breath and then let it out through her nose. "That's my sister. I'll call you back later, okay?"

"Betty," Jughead sounded as though he was working hard not to ask her more questions. "Just...Call me, okay? Call if you need _anything_." Despite all the stresses that were going on inside the hospital walls, Betty felt a watery smile beginning to work it's way across her face.

"I will," she promised him before pulling the phone away from her ear, just as Polly reached her, panting from running to catch up with the younger girl.

"Betty," Polly reached her sister and dropped her hands on her shoulders. "Dad's wrong. He's so wrong."

"He's _not_ , Polly," Betty began, feeling the panic and sadness rising in her chest again. "He's not wrong! She had this panic attack _now_ , not six months ago when everything was all going perfectly in her life, and the way that she wanted it to!"

"Oh my god, Betty," Polly drew in a deep breath and tightened her grip on her shoulders. "Look; life doesn't always go the way that you want it to. Shit, how many years did you _never_ get your way? You always did what mum and dad wanted, you never did anything for yourself. And what's happened to mum?" Polly shook her head. "Come on, mum is fucking psychotic," she let out a short laugh. "She stresses about everything, she's always worked up and wound tight—if it was stress and anxiety that brought all of this on, then it was bound to happen at some point. It just so happened to occur _now_ , when dad could land the blame squarely on your shoulders."

"But—"

"No," Polly was squeezing Betty's shoulders so hard that they were actually hurting a little, and Polly's stare was intense. "This was _not_ your fault." Betty opened her mouth but Polly just shook her head. "This was not your fault, Betty. And mum doesn't blame you." Betty sighed and pressed her lips together, her eyes flicking over Polly's shoulders and back toward the hospital. "Mum was sticking up for you in there."

"Dad was so angry," Betty said quietly.

"He's scared," Polly shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, he just wants someone to blame. Mum was driving in the middle of town when it happened, and she crashed into that big fence down by _Pop's_. The car was smashed all up in the front, and even though she wasn't going fast enough to kill herself, since she had her seat belt on and everything, that doesn't mean that she couldn't have really hurt or killed someone else, a pedestrian. So he's freaking out, and he doesn't know who to place the blame on, and you're just an easy target." Betty swallowed hard. "But it's _not_ your fault, okay?"

"Hm," Betty hummed out, not fully believing her sister. Polly leaned forward and gave her a tight hug, holding her against her chest.

"Mum shouted at him after you left," Polly mumbled against Betty's hair. "I mean, it was nowhere near as loud as she got when you tried to give yourself a fringe when you were nine, but for a woman who's spent a night in hospital, she did a pretty good job." Betty couldn't help but laugh slightly. Polly pulled back, looking proud at getting her sister to lighten up, at least a little bit. "She told him to leave, give her some space, and asked for me to find you, bring you back."

"She wants to talk to me?" Betty wasn't sure if that was the best thing. Alice was known for pretending to be nice, smiling and batting her eyelashes, and then pouncing when other person had lowered their defenses.

"She had no idea that you were going to come," Polly continued. "And she doesn't want to chase you away, after you made an effort to see her." Betty licked her lips, before nodding. "Okay, great," Polly turned around to face the hospital, taking a firm grasp on Betty's hand—maybe as a show of comfort, maybe to prevent her from running away—and lead her back to the hospital. As they made it back to the third floor, Betty felt apprehensive as they walked closer to Alice's room, worried that maybe her father was still there.

He wasn't.

The room was empty, other than Alice.

"Betty," Alice smiled at her, and then waved a hand at Polly, indicating that she shut the door that lead to the hallway. "Come here," she patted the bed, and Betty tentatively walked toward the bed, Polly appearing behind her after she had shut the door, giving her a bit of a push. Betty approached the side of the bed and did an awkward side jump so that she was on the edge of the bed. "Thank you for coming down."

"Of course, mum," Betty's eyebrows pulled together as she reached for her mothers hand, squeezing it. "I got on the first flight I could."

"I believe that," Alice let out a quiet laugh. "Given I only got admitted last night." Betty managed a weak smile. Alice took in a deep breath and looked over at Polly, waving the hand that Betty wasn't holding at her older daughter. "Betty..." Alice began again, as she had her daughters on either side of the bed. "I want you to know that your father...He's just scared. He doesn't mean to blame you, he's just trying to find a reason for what's happened." Betty bit down on her lower lip, stopping herself from saying that her father definitely _sounded_ as though he meant it. "Baby..." Alice took in a deep breath. "I'm going to be absolutely fine. The doctor said that I just need some rest, to take a bit of a break from—well, from _everything_ , really."

"Usually just getting extra sleep doesn't end you up in hospital," Betty pointed out in a quiet voice.

"Yes, well," Alice gave a one shouldered shrug. "You know me, I never do anything half way." Polly smiled soothingly at her mother, patting the top of her hand. "The main point is, while I appreciate you flying down here, I'm going to be fine." Betty's eyes widened as she realized what it was her mother was getting at. "You seem to have a life back in Los Angeles, and from the photos that I've seen on Facebook..." Betty wasn't going to get into the fact that her mother didn't have a Facebook, and so was clearly doing some journalistic 'investigating'. "You look happy. Especially, with that...With that _boy_ ," the expression on her face wasn't exactly a pleased one, but it didn't look as furious as Hal's.

"His name is Jughead," Betty supplied quietly, and almost regretted it when Alice's eyebrows shot upward. Polly let out a quiet laugh, trying to muffle it by turning her face into her shoulder.

"Well... _Jughead_...Seems to make you happy. I know that..." Alice took in a deep breath. "I know that we haven't always been the most understanding," she actually looked genuinely upset and remorseful. "I know that we might have pushed too hard, or expected too much, and not listened to you enough," her eyes were actually tearing up as she spoke, squeezing tightly onto Betty's hand. "But I need you to know that everything that we did, everything that we ever wanted for you—it was because we _loved_ you, and we just wanted what was best for you. For _both_ of our girls," she looked between Betty and Polly, and Betty found herself tearing up in response to her mothers words.

"Oh, shit," Betty mumbled, sniffing loudly, and looking over at her sister, who looked just as taken aback by her mothers speech. Alice took in a deep breath, and let go of Betty's hand for a moment to wipe at her own eyes.

"What I'm trying to say here is..." Alice took Betty's hand once again, holding on so hard that if Betty was completely distracted by her mother, she would probably be registering pain. "I'm trying to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that we pushed you to the point where it felt as though you couldn't talk to us. And I'm so, _so_ proud that you are happy now, and seem to have found someone who makes you happy," Alice managed a watery smile and an almost laugh. "Even if his name is Jughead." Betty laughed, and so did Polly, the tension in the room breaking ever so slightly. "Go back to Los Angeles, Elizabeth," she murmured. "I'm going to be fine, you don't need to put your life on hold for me."

"Mum," Betty took in a deep breath, looking across the bed at her sister before back at her mother. "I don't have to go yet. I can wait until you're feeling better, until you're back home."

"You could," Alice nodded. "But Polly told me the other day that you had a job, at a day care, and that you were enjoying it."

"Yeah," Betty nodded her head, not managing to get anything else out past the lump in her throat.

"And she also said that you had signed up to take some courses at the University," Alice continued, and Betty couldn't even be mad at Polly for opening up to their mother, give the proud look that was shining through Alice's eyes. "I am so _proud_ of how strong you are, and that you are doing what makes you happy." It was Polly's turn to sniff loudly, and Betty looked over at her, and all three woman let out quiet laughs. "Go back, Betty, go back home." It was that last word, calling Los Angeles _home_ , that broke Betty, and she slumped forward over her mother, tears falling steadily down her cheeks. She felt warmth a moment later, and knew that Polly was hugging her as well, both girls stretching out over their mother in the hospital bed. "Go live your life, baby," Alice whispered against Betty's hair.


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, beautiful people!

Polly and Betty stayed at the hospital for another four hours, and it was...Weird. It was good, but weird. Betty had never had a great relationship with her mother—even when she was doing everything that Alice wanted; as a child, as a teenager—they had never got on well. At first Betty had been quiet, taken aback by how interested Alice seemed in her life. When she had told Polly initially about her job and her course at the University, she had said that she didn't want her to tell their parents. Polly had said that Betty should be the one to do it, and she respected her choice.

It had been a week or so ago, when Polly had left her laptop open at the shop where the Coopers ran their local newspaper out of. Hal had been out getting lunch, while Alice was still at the office. Alice—and the nosiness that was ingrained into her bones—couldn't help but glance over at Polly's laptop, and saw one of the photo's that Betty was tagged in, probably by Kevin or even more likely, Veronica. Both Polly and Betty exchanged looks, guessing that Alice probably opened up Polly's internet and went to Facebook, rather than it just being conveniently open for her, but they didn't say anything. Alice had seen a photo of Betty and Jughead tagged in a photo together, and she had seen pictures of them with Jugheads bike in the photo, including the photo that Betty loved so much.

She had been worried, and had begged Polly to tell her that Betty was okay, and that she hadn't just gone off the rails and was living life with some biker and slowly getting every inch of her body tattooed. So Polly had broken down and told her that Betty was doing absolutely fine, that she had a job and she had even signed herself up for courses at the University. Polly was going to tell Betty, give her a heads up in case Alice called her, but she hadn't gotten around to it, and then the accident had happened.

Before the sisters left the hospital, Alice insisted on Betty booking her flight back to Los Angeles and seeing the receipt for it on her phone to confirm that she had actually done it. She had also asked for more details about Jughead, which Betty hadn't felt _too_ comfortable on, but she had talked about how he had been the one to help her find a job, and the blush on her cheeks and stutter in her voice were enough to give away how much she liked him. Alice hugged Betty tight before she left—still looking fragile and delicate in the hospital bed, despite the colour that was now showing in her cheeks—and told her to make sure she called when she landed back in Los Angeles.

"So," Polly began with a twist of her mouth as the pair sat in the front seat of her car, blankly staring ahead in the cars parked in front of them. "That was..."

"Unexpected?" Betty offered weakly. Polly was quiet for a moment, just nodding her head, not to sure what she was meant to say. But then a small smile crossed her face, and reached across the center console of the car and squeeze Betty's hand.

"She's right, you know?" Polly said quietly. "Everything that she said? She's right." Betty wasn't sure what to say, still processing everything that her mother had said to her. It was so _completely_ unlike Alice, that she was actually wondering if perhaps her mother had hit her head harder than the doctors had thought. Polly started the car, as though understanding that it was a lot for Betty to take in, and she started the drive home. Betty's flight was leaving at nine in the morning tomorrow, and it was now just after lunch. The girls were going to head home, and Hal was apparently heading back to the hospital, so hopefully Betty wasn't going to have to see him for too long. Not that she didn't want to see her father, per se, but she really didn't want to have another confrontation. Polly was going to take Betty back to hospital to see their mother once more before heading to the airport so that she could make her flight.

"So, he's home," Betty mumbled as Polly pulled the car into the driveway, next to Hal's station wagon, the same one that he had taught both his daughters to drive in.

"It's okay, Betty," Polly assured her. "I've got your back."

"Just like you always have," Betty smiled over at her sister, reaching over to squeeze her arm lightly. They got out of the car, both of the sisters feeling apprehensive as they walked toward the front door. Just was Polly was about to reach for the door, it opened, and Hal was standing there, looking as though he was on his way out. He stopped short when he saw them, eyes flickering between the two blondes in front of him.

"I'm heading back to the hospital," he muttered. "I'll probably spend the night with your mother again." He stepped past them, eyes on his keys that were in his hands. Betty bit down on her lip nervously, curling her fingernails into her palms as she wondered if she should call out after her father. It was the last time that she would probably seem him for ww ehile, if he was spending the night with her mother, and she was leaving in the morning.

"Hey, dad?" Betty called out after Hal, and he stopped walking, although he didn't turn around to face her. "I'm flying back to LA in the morning...So I'm not sure if I'll see you before I leave."

"You're just going to leave?" Hal arched an eyebrow at his youngest daughter. "While your mothers in hospital?" _Because of you_ , Betty finished in the sentence in her head, able to read the accusation in her fathers eyes. But Polly moved so that she was standing directly behind Betty, and her warmth gave Betty strength.

"Mum told me to go home," she continued. "She told me to go back to LA, because she knows how happy I am there." Hal frowned at her, and looked as though he was going to interrupt, but Betty kept talking, not allowing him to speak. "You can't keep me in a box anymore, dad, I'm not a little girl anymore," she swallowed hard, feeling uncomfortable but proud for sticking up for herself. "I know that you wanted me to be a lawyer, I know that you wanted me to follow in Polly's footsteps, because you believe that it would provide me with a stable career, steady income and a good future, but I'm not _Polly_. I'm _Elizabeth_." Hal blinked at her. "And I don't want you to think that I don't appreciate everything that you've done for me, but it's time for me to do what _I_ want and what makes _me_ happy, not you, and not mum." Hal didn't look as though he was going to say anything anymore, his eyes were wide and his mouth was open in surprise. "I'm sorry that I can't be the perfect daughter that you wanted, but you've already got that. You've got Polly. She _likes_ being a lawyer, and she _likes_ Riverdale. Now I need to find what _I_ like, and where _I_ want to be." She didn't really know what else to say, that had been emotional enough to blurt out.

"We're going to stop by the hospital in the morning before I take Betty to the airport," Polly said softly from behind her sister. "We need to be at the airport just after eight, so we'll be at the hospital around seven thirty. We'll see you then?" Hal was still staring at Betty, and Betty couldn't blame him.

She had never stood up for herself to either of her parents before.

"Y-yeah," Hal managed to jerk his head in a nod, responding to Polly's question but still looking at Betty. After another tense moment passed, Hal turned on his heel and stalked to his car. Betty let out a long, heavy breath, and looked back at her sister, who was smiling at her.

"Good on you, Bets," Polly murmured, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and encouraging her forward, into the house. They were quiet as they walked back inside, going into the lounge which only had one difference to when Betty was growing up, and that was the family photo that was hanging above the piano in the corner, of Polly at her graduation and the family around her, big, cookie cutter smiles on their faces. Everything else was exactly the same, and it was kind of claustrophobic. Polly spoke to break the silence after a few minutes. "You know...You've kind of got dad's hopes up there."

"Huh?" Betty asked in confusion.

"Well, now he thinks that I'm the perfect daughter. Imagine how he's gonna react when he realizes that I'm dating Jason, one of the men who aren't on his approved list," Polly snorted with a shake of her head. Betty shrugged and smiled.

"At least you didn't drop out of University after wasting a couple of years of your life and racking up a ton of loans that you're never actually going to have any use for," Betty squinted. "Oh, and then moving half way across the country, getting into bed with the first guy who paid attention to you in a bar, then falling for him and his motorcycle." Polly just stared at Betty for a long moment, both eyebrows raised.

"And his name is Jughead," she supplied.

"And his name is Jughead," Betty confirmed with a nod.

Both sisters dissolved into fits of laughter.

* * *

Hal didn't come home from the hospital that night, but neither of the sisters were expecting him to. Polly rang his cellphone, and asked to speak with Alice, and both of the girls said goodnight. Apparently she was going to be discharged tomorrow afternoon, they just wanted to keep her for one more night for observation. She sounded a lot more alert than she had when they had been in to see her, and she even snapped at one of the nurses to tie her laces, and Betty could barely contain her snort.

Alice sounded as though she was definitely back.

Before going to bed, Betty rang Kevin, to arrange for him to pick her up when her flight landed the next day, as well as Jughead, to let him know that her trip was going to be a bit shorter than expected. Jughead still wanted to know what had sent her into hysterics this morning, and they ended up talking until close to midnight.

Polly took Betty out for an early breakfast in the morning, and then they stopped by the hospital, saying one last goodbye to Alice and Hal. Alice was sitting up, and Hal must have brought in some clothes and make up for her, because even though she was confined to the bed, her make up was impeccably done and she was wearing one of her blouses. Hal was quiet as they said goodbye, so obviously she had had a word with him, but when Betty gave him a hesitant hug goodbye, he gave her a tight squeeze and pressed a kiss against the side of her head, which felt good, like he had calmed down, and wasn't blaming her anymore.

And then an hour later, she was on a plane, flying back to Los Angeles.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Pride Month, ya'll!

It was just before lunch that Betty got off the plane and walked through the airport. She had turned her phone on while she was walking into the building, and it buzzed with a message from Kevin, telling her that he was outside, in the arrivals car park. He wasn't able to get out of the car and come in and see her, since it was only a temporary parking lot for drop offs and pick ups.

She was glad that she had gone back to Riverdale—she really didn't think that the first time going back to see her parents would actually end well, she had sort of thought that she would be running back to Los Angeles crying.

But while it hadn't been under the best circumstances, Betty didn't regret going back. She had been completely surprised by her mothers reaction to seeing her after all of these months of practically yelling everytime she was on the phone and being furious at her for dropping out of University. Alice had been _happy_ to see her, though, and honestly, it had been the first time that she had actually felt as though her mother was truly happy for her. Of course, it had been horrible with her father, and her stomach churned everytime she remembered his words, but she was glad that she had stood up for herself, and it hadn't ended completely terribly that morning.

She had only been gone for a short weekend, she felt emotionally drained, and she was glad that she was back in the city. Back where she felt as though she was safe, and supported.

It wasn't hard to spot Kevin's bright yellow bug parked at the curb, and Betty picked up the pace as she ducked around a couple of people to reach it. She was about to walk around to the passenger side of the car when she realized that someone was in the front seat next to Kevin. She quickly opened up the back door and threw her bag in first before sliding in as well, and Kevin pulled onto the busy road.

"Hey!" Betty greeted the two men in the front seat.

"Hey, babe," Kevin glanced at her in the rear view mirror.

"And you must be Joaquin," Betty smiled, on the edge of the backseat so that she could offer her hand through the gap of the two front seats, getting a good look at the man in the passenger seat.

"I am," Joaquin DeSantos took her hand and shook it, speaking in a soft voice. "It's good to meet you, Betty."

"And you," she agreed, raising her eyebrows in the rear view mirror so that Kevin could see her approval. The guy was cute, and despite the longish hair, reaching his shoulders, and the leather jacket and ripped jeans he was wearing, he seemed to have a sweet expression on his face. Especially when he reached out and rested his hand on Kevin's knee, giving it a light squeeze. They seemed comfortable with each other, and Betty was glad that they seemed to be actually acting like a couple, rather than a booty call.

It had only been two days since she had seen Jughead—it had been Friday evening, and now she was back Sunday afternoon—maybe it had only been a short weekend, but it had been emotionally draining. She was tired, even though she had managed to get a full nights sleep last night, and she really hoped that there was no more drama that she needed to deal with.

"So, how are you? How was Alice, the friendly neighborhood dragon?" Kevin asked as he navigated the heavy traffic that was flowing out of the airport.

"She was...She was good, actually," Betty admitted. She had called Kevin last night to let him know that she was coming back, and he had asked her how everything was going, thinking that her coming back so quickly was because something had wrong. And that would have been what she thought as well, hell—it's what she had _expected_ to happen. "And it was great seeing Polly."

"Did you just describe a run-in with Alice as _good_?" Kevin snorted in the front seat, and despite how drained she felt, Betty laughed as well. Kevin had been there for her through all of the stress that Alice had laid upon Betty's shoulders when she was a young girl growing up, and while he knew that Alice loved her, he knew how crippling her expectations could be. So Betty could completely understand his disbelief.

"Yeah, it was...Weird," Betty shrugged, taking in a deep breath. Kevin shot her a questioning look, but she didn't expand on it. She would later, she would tell Kevin everything, probably tonight, while curled up on his couch with a trashy TV show playing in the background and hot chocolate wrapped in her hands. But right now, there was somewhere she needed to be. "Can you drop me off at Jughead's?"

"Sure thing, babes," Kevin flashed her a quick smile, indicating when they reached the end of the airports road and reaching the highway. It didn't take long to reach Jughead's once they were moving steadily along the highway, and Betty paused beside the drivers side door after she got out of the car, leaning through the window and giving Kevin a kiss on the cheek.

"I'll get Jughead to drop me off later, okay? And I'll tell you everything then," Betty promised Kevin, and he nodded. "It was good to finally meet you in person, Joaquin," she smiled across at the man in the passenger seat, who nodded at her. "I'll see you later," she pulled back from the car, watching as Kevin pulled back onto the road and drove away. She took in a deep breath, turning around to look up at the garage, at the big, faded, loopy script that read _Jones' Garage_ , before walking around to the side door. Over the past few months that she had been seeing Jughead, she had learnt that the side door was almost always unlocked, and even when it wasn't, he kept a spare key behind a loose brick, and he had told her that she could use that any time.

Betty tried the metal door knob, and it turned freely under her touch, so she opened the door and stepped inside. Music was playing, and it was loud, so it was coming from inside the garage rather than up in Jughead's apartment above the garage. The roller door that was in the front of the garage was still closed, which made sense, since it was a Sunday, and he probably didn't want to advertise that he was working through the weekend, and encourage more people to bring their problem vehicles in. Betty could see a light on near the back of the workshop, and there daylight coming through the windows that lined the wall high up, and they provided enough light for her to walk through the workshop without bumping into anything.

And there he was.

He was bent over a silver car, the bonnet propped open as his skillful fingers worked their way over the engine. The music coming from the stereo behind him was loud enough that he didn't hear Betty approaching, and she took a moment just to appreciate him.

He was wearing the overalls that he always wore when working on cars, but they were tied around his waist, rather than pulled right up. He had a wife beater on that was probably completely white at some point, but was now stained with black and grey splotches, undoubtedly from grease of the engine, and from him wiping his hands on his shirt. But Betty didn't care how stained his shirt was, because her eyes were sliding over his broad shoulders and his toned arms, that were on full display due to the sleeveless shirt he was wearing.

Shit, he looked good.

He always did, though.

His hair was was adorably flopped forward over his forehead, and she could see the tattoo across his bicep, _Jellybean_ written in small, loopy script. Betty couldn't stop herself from licking her tongue along her lower lip as she stepped closer to Jughead, her foot bumping against something on the ground and drawing Jughead's attention to her.

"Betty," his eyebrows raised in surprise, but he moved away from the car quickly, a smile spreading across his face. "I expected you back later."

"I came straight from the airport," she admitted.

"Hold up one sec," Jughead told her, walking over to sink behind him, quickly washing away the muck that was on his hands, oil underneath his fingernails and he scrubbed at them the wire bristled brush quickly before picking up the towel and drying his hand. He glanced her over with narrowed eyes, as though trying to figure out if she was okay, and then leaned forward to pull Betty into him for a tight hug. The instant his arms were around him and she was surrounded by his familiar scent, it felt as though she could _breathe_ finally, for the first time since she had received the call from Polly on Friday evening.

It just felt _so good_ to have her petite body held by Jughead.

She didn't even realize that she was crying until Jughead made comforting noises under his breath, lips pressed against her temple, and tightening his arms around her. It wasn't even that she was sad, exactly, she just felt _drained_. It had just been a long weekend, and emotionally it had been a roller coaster—from finding out that her mother was in hospital, to her father blaming her for her mother's fragile state, and then Alice admitting that maybe she had been pushing Betty a little bit too hard.

"Hey," Jughead murmured, pulling back from her and looking at her face. Tears had tracked down her cheeks, and she was glad she wasn't wearing make up, or it would be clumping under her eyes right now, looking very unattractive. "What's wrong, Bets?" He cupped her face in his hands, his thumbs gently swiped over her cheeks, brushing over her cheeks. It didn't make much of a difference, though, because more tears were already falling.

"Nothing..." she hiccuped and tried to steady herself, even though the air that was coming from the air conditioning unit was cooling her cheeks, telling her that her cheeks were still wet. She took in a deep breath to try and calm herself down, and she felt her chest clench before finally managing to to breathe normally again. "It's just really, _really_ good to see you," she told him. Jughead's lips tipped upward in a slight smile before he looped an arm around her waist, bringing her body back to his. The kiss that he pressed against her mouth sent a shiver down her spine.

"You wanna come upstairs?" Jughead asked quietly, only pulling back an inch or so, so that their noses still bumped together as he spoke, and she could feel his breath against her lips. "We can find something animated and filled with songs on Netflix, and I've still got some of that boysenberry ice cream that you brought last weekend."

"Sounds perfect," Betty mumbled, letting Jughead tug her in close to his side, making their way up to his apartment.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait, guys.  
> Life is crazy.

Betty's course at University started, and she had to go in three days a week. Two of those days she finished just after two, so she got a few hours in at the daycare on those days, and then worked full time on Wednesday and Friday, when she didn't have have any course. Jenn was understanding and accommodating, saying that her schooling came first because they needed her to be all fully qualified if she was going to continue working there. The course itself only went for two semesters, since she already had some years at University behind her, and then once those semesters were over, she needed to get a certain amount of hours under her belt with supervision, which would be Jenn.

She was entitled to a small living allowance as well, so that paired together with the income from her part time job she was comfortable. It wasn't like she had lots of money to throw around, but given she had been working full time up until her course had started, and had been living rent-free at Kevin's, she had managed to save a bit as well.

Herself, Cheryl and Veronica had finally found a house that all three of them liked, that was actually only a few blocks away from the daycare, which in turn, was only a short walk from Jughead's house. It was also close to a bus stop, which went by the University, and was only a short drive from Veronica's work. They were moving in in a couple of weeks time, and Betty knew that despite how happy Kevin was to have her staying with him—he was always ready to help out any of his friends—Betty knew that he was looking forward to having his house to himself. Or, probably more accurately, himself and Joaquin.

"What about this?" Jughead asked, raising his eyebrows as he stood in front of a double bed with a wooden frame. Archie's dad owned a second hand furniture store, and his eyes had almost fallen out of his head when Jughead had shown up with his arm around Betty. He still looked as though he didn't believe quite what was happening as he glanced up at them moving around the store. It was an hour later, and Betty had chosen out a pair of drawers and a bedside table, and now they were looking for a bed.

"I like it," Betty ran her fingers over the headboard. She  _did_  like it, but on top of the drawers and bedside table, which she had managed to find in a similar style, both solid and wooden, she wasn't too sure she should splurge on the bed as well.

"Don't worry about the price," Jughead told her with a small smile. "Trust me."

"I don't want you to pay for any of this," Betty gave him a sharp look. While the garage didn't pull in big profits, Jughead had a good head for business and it made enough for him to be comfortable and he saved a lot living above the garage as well. And Jughead was more than happy to spend that money on Betty, despite her insisting over and over again in the past few months that she could afford things herself since she was working now.

"Don't worry, I won't," Jughead gave her a smirk and held out his hands placatingly. "It's just that Fred will give you a discount, so it won't be quite as crazy as you might expect."

"Oh—he doesn't need to," Betty frowned and looked over her shoulder to where Fred was talking with another customer. The store seemed quite successful, and it sprawled out over quite a large space, which was why Betty was taking so long to decide on what furniture she wanted to buy to furnish her new room.

"I know," Jughead replied. "But he'll do it anyway. He's a good guy, always wants to help people out, especially friends or Archie's or mine." There was a soft tone to his voice as he looked over to where Fred was standing and Betty tilted her head to the side, reaching out and touching the back of Jughead's hand gently.

"He sounds like he means a lot to you," she commented quietly. While they had been seeing each other for a few months now, and Jughead had opened up a little bit more about Gladys and Jellybean and his father, it wasn't something that they spoke about often. Sort of how Betty didn't really like talking about her parents and what they were like, and what growing up with them had been like to her self worth. So Betty didn't want to push anything that Jughead wasn't ready to talk about.

"Me and Arch have been friends since we were born," Jughead shrugged, looking back at the bed. "Fred has always been like a father to me—a damn better father than mine was." Betty nodded, turning her attention back to the bed as well, since it seemed as though that was where Jughead wanted to leave the conversation.

"Okay," Betty agreed as she looked at the bed. "I like this one as well." Jughead sat down on the mattress, bouncing up and down a couple of times and then smirking. The smiles from Jughead were coming more and more often, and the blonde was cherishing every single one of them. "What?" She asked at the cheeky look on his face as he bounced a couple of more times, shifting from side to side.

"Oh, nothing," he shrugged nonchalantly as he got back up. "Just that it doesn't squeak, so shouldn't get any complaints from Cheryl or Ronnie." Betty was confused for a moment before her mouth opened and her eyes widened, scandalized but unable to stop herself from laughing at the same time.

"Juggie!" She gasped, slapping his arm, and Jughead just laughed. It was brief, and it stopped almost before it started, but she was proud of herself all the same. "Alright, let's go see Fred and see if we can put these aside for the next few weeks until I move into the new house."

It turned out that Fred was more than happy to put them in the back store room until Betty moved into the new house with Cheryl and Veronica, and he insisted on giving her a discount. Betty tried to say that she could pay full price, but Fred just waved her off, saying that any friend of Jughead's was family to him. There was a pointed way that he looked between Betty and Jughead which made Betty's cheeks flare red and bite down on her lower lip, and Jughead just rolled his eyes.

After they finished the store, they got back on Jughead's bike. Two weeks ago, he had taken her to a Harley Davidson store, and brought Betty her own helmet, one that fit her perfectly. The spare that she had been using was fine, and she tried to tell him that she could keep using it, but Jughead snorted and didn't listen, saying that he was planning on having her around for a long time, and she needed to have a helmet that fit her properly. He had also brought her a leather jacket and motorcycle chaps—once again ignoring Betty when she said she was fine. He made an off-handed comment about how she would need them when they went on a road trip.

"So there's this thing," Jughead began, his fingers linked together with Betty's as they walked down the beach, ice creams in the hands that weren't swinging between them. "It happens about once or twice a year. There's this place which is usually closed, kind of a local hangout for teenagers who want to hook up, but they clear it out and do it up every now and then. It's called the Twilight Drive In."

"Sounds interesting," Betty lifted an eyebrow at him as she licked the boysenberry ice cream that was threatening to drip onto her hand.

"It's a drive in movie theatre, me and Archie have gone since we were kids," Jughead pursed his lips and went quiet for a moment before shrugging one shoulder. "We used to go when I was a kid, when my dad was still around. We couldn't afford to pay for all four of us, so me and JB would hide in the trunk of the car and then crawl out once my parents parked up." Betty smiled, giving Jughead's hand a squeeze. She had never heard any  _good_  memories from when he was younger and his father was around—she was sure that there  _were_  some, but he barely ever talked about anything that involved his father—and she was glad that he had opened up about one. "So it's on in a few weeks time, the day after your moving day. You wanna go?"

"It sounds fun," Betty reached up on her toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek, laughing when she realized that she had left behind a slight smudge of ice cream. She wiped it off and licked at her ice cream again. "I guess we can't go on your bike though,  _that_  wouldn't be the most comfortable way to watch a movie."

"Nah, we take Archie's truck, and sit in the back," Jughead replied. There were some kids running around in front of them, and a little red head girl looked at their ice creams jealously. She took off running, and a moment later, the couple could hear her calling out to her mother, asking if they could get ice creams. Betty laughed, leaning in closer to Jughead so that their shoulders were bumping together. "It used to just be me and Archie, but then Veronica started coming along, and then Kevin. Cheryl has never come, says it's beneath her—"

"She might have some different ideas now that her and Ronnie are together," Betty smirked and Jughead shrugged.

"Maybe," he had eaten his ice cream in record speed, and while Betty was just finishing off the top scoop of boysenberry, Jughead was crunching down on the last of his cone. "I'm guessing Kevin's new man is going to be coming as well, so it's going to be a bit of a tight squeeze in the back of Arch's truck."

"It's okay, I can sit on your lap," Betty grinned. Jughead gave her a small smile, lifting up his arm and sliding it around her shoulders, hugging her in tight to his side. They walked until Betty finished her ice cream, and then she slipped off her shoes and socks, leaving them in the sands as she jogged toward the shore line. It wasn't the hottest day, there was a bit of a breeze and there were clouds in the sky, covering the sun. But Betty loved the water, she didn't care about the temperature, so she pulled up the hem of her jeans and let the water rush over her feet as a wave came rolling in. Jughead walked after her, but stayed out of the water, a relaxed smile on his face as he watched her kicking her feet through the shallow water. "Come on, this water is nice!"

"I know for a fact you're lying," Jughead raised an eyebrow with a snort. "It'll be cold."

"Aw, come on, don't be a baby," Betty teased as she turned around to face him.

"Nope," Jughead shook his head again. Betty rolled her eyes, but her shoulders slumped a little, looking as though she had given up on trying to convince him. Jughead took a few steps closer to her, and Betty whirled around suddenly, skimming her feet under the surface of the water from a wave that was just trickling in and sent it splashing toward Jughead. Jughead's eyes widened as his jeans and shirt were damped and Betty let out a squeal of laughter at the expression on his face. Jughead lifted his head, and the next thing that the blonde knew, the dark haired man was charging at her, not caring that he still had his shoes on and he hadn't rolled up the hem of his jeans, kicking up the water and spraying it all over Betty's clothes.

Betty laughed and squealed, running away as her boyfriend chased her through the shallow water.


	24. Chapter 24

The day that the girls moved into their new home was a Friday. Cheryl and Veronica were just glad that they were moving out of an  _apartment_  and into an actual  _house_ , while Betty was just glad she was going to be able to have her own room and a bed, rather than crashing on the couch, or sometimes sharing the bed with Kevin when they watched TV in his room and fell asleep. The house that they were moving into also had a cute little backyard that wasn't huge, but was big enough to have a clothes line and a outdoor table and chairs set.

Veronica and Betty both got time off work so that they had a long weekend to move, and Cheryl took a day off visiting the hair salon or getting her nails done or whatever it was that she did. Kevin and Joaquin also came over in the afternoon to help them with moving the heavy furniture from the girls apartment, and Jughead drove down to Fred's second hand store in Archie's pick up truck to pick up the furniture that he had been holding for her. By five o'clock, the whole group was over at their new place, helping them unpack.

"No! No!" Cheryl squawked out as Archie and Joaquin moved her absolutely massive bed from one side of the room to the centre. "Nope, I want it turned around! It's making the room look too small." Kevin exchanged looked with Betty from the doorway where they were standing, and they turned around to hide their smirks. Veronica and Cheryl had the two rooms on one side of the house, while Betty was on the other side, which she was very happy about, given how all over each other the girls always were. She doubted they would even need the two rooms, but if they wanted them, they were welcome to them. "No, no, no!" Cheryl could still be heard from the bedroom as Kevin and Betty walked out the back door to where the outdoor furniture had been brought by earlier by Joaquin, Archie and Jughead.

"So this sounds as though it's going to be fun," Kevin smirked as he sat down on one of the wooden chairs, Betty sitting down next to him, a content smile on her face as she looked around the tiny back yard. There was a tree in the corner of the fenced off property, and the grass was trimmed short, with a washing line in the opposite corner from the tree. The sun was on their side of the house, and she tipped her head back, taking in a deep breath. "If she ever gets to be too much, you know that you're always welcome back to my couch."

"I know," Betty let out a laugh as she opened her eyes and reached out to grip Kevin's hand, giving it a quick squeeze. "Although you've got to admit, you're going to be happy to have your place all back to yourself. Especially now that you've got that hot piece of a ass inside."

"Sassy," Kevin's eyebrows shot up and he let out a surprised snort at the blondes words. "I like it." Betty laughed again and shook her head. Kevin was about to open his mouth and say something when Cheryl came outside, huffing and rolling her eyes.

"They're refusing to move my bed anymore," she grumbled as she sat down at the third seat around the wooden table.

"Maybe that's because they're here because they're doing you a favor as friends, and not because they're paid moving personnel," Kevin sniped. Cheryl responded by flipping the finger at him, and huffing again. Veronica came out a moment later, and she skipped over to Cheryl, sitting down on her lap and wrapping an arm around her, smushing a kiss against her cheek and leaving a smear of dark purple lipstick on her pale skin.

"I already love this place ten times more than our apartment," Veronica announced, making herself comfortable on Cheryl, slinging her legs over the wooden arm of the chair.

"Yes, except for the fact that my bed is angled in such a way that when the sun comes up in the morning it's going to shine directly in my eyes," Cheryl muttered.

"Well, maybe if you weren't being such a bitch, they would help you out some more," Veronica reasoned with a smirk, and Kevin and Betty snorted. Joaquin, Archie and Jughead joined the four outside a few minutes later, all of them outside now since Reggie had left half an hour ago to go meet some girl that he had started seeing. "Don't worry, babe, you can share my bed," she wiggled her eyebrows at her girlfriend, and the icy expression on Cheryl's face thawed just a little bit.

"Two windows have broken locks," Jughead said quietly as he came over to stand behind Betty, resting his hands on her shoulders. "Me and Archie are going to go to the store to get replacements and come back and get those fixed."

"Thanks," Betty covered one of Jugheads hands with her own, giving it a little squeeze as she let her head rest back against his stomach.

"And we moved the bed again," Archie said grudgingly, not looking happy to admit it to Cheryl. "So it's now opposite the wardrobe." Cheryl looked as though she was going to shoot back some smartass remark, but Veronica tapped her shoulder warningly and the red head rolled her eyes.

"Thank you," Cheryl bit out before turning her head away, tossing her hair over her shoulder. Jughead leaned down and pressed a kiss against Betty's forehead.

"We'll be back shortly," he told her. "And then we'll get those locks fixed."

* * *

The first morning that Betty woke up in her new home, she basked in the fact that she was waking up in a bedroom that was entirely her own. It really shouldn't be that big of a thing, except for the past few months she had been living in Kevin's lounge without her own space, and before that she had been living in the dorms at NYU, and sharing with a roommate. So the fact that this bedroom was all hers, and that she could stretch out without any worry of putting anyone else by remaining in bed was an amazing feeling.

She heard the shower start and was about to drift back off to sleep when she heard some high pitched giggles and then a thud, and assumed that Cheryl and Veronica were showring together. She rolled her eyes and hid her under her pillow, going back to sleep with a smile.

When Betty finally got up, close to noon, she pulled on a sweatshirt over the singlet and didn't bother to change out of her pyjama shorts. Cheryl was sitting at their small kitchen table, drinking some thick, disgusting looking green drink. Betty raised her eyebrow at it when Veronica came through the front door behind her, holding up a brown paper bag.

"Don't worry," she said with a grin. "I went and got us actual food."

"You mean a heart attack waiting to happen?" Cheryl quirked an eyebrow, sniffing in derision as Veronica got two plates out of the cupboard and put them down at the table.

"That's exactly what I mean," Veronica sung out, obviously used to Cheryl's hate for all things good in the world, like the incredible pastries that she tipped out of the bag and shared between the two plates.

"Oh my god, these smell amazing," Betty sighed as she fell down in the seat beside Veronica and pulled the plate closer to her.

"There's plenty of my spinach and lime smoothie to go around," Cheryl stated as she looked across the table at Betty. "And it's a hell of a lot better for you than those." Betty stared at the red head pointedly as she picked up one of the pastries and shoved it into her mouth, biting down and chewing down on it. Veronica laughed while Cheryl just rolled her eyes and sighed. "Well, I guess I'm going to have to accept you—disgusting eating habits and all—since we're practically sisters now."

"Uh," Betty swallowed her mouthful. "Moving in together does not make us related. Trust me, I would've put a little bit more thought into it if that's what I was signing up for."

"I don't mean because of our living situation," Cheryl rolled her eyes dramatically. "I meant Jason and your sister, Polly."

"Polly?" That surprised Betty and she froze for a moment, raising her eyebrow. "What's Polly got to do with this?"

"My darling brother, Jason, is dating your sister," Cheryl already looked bored with this conversation, although clearly it was new information to her or so she would have brought it up sooner. "When he was in town a few months ago—around when you first showed up—he mentioned to me that he was seeing someone, but he just wanted to give it a bit more time before introducing her because he wanted to tell mummy and daddy first. I guess he must have finally done it, because there's a photo up on Facebook."

"Jason..." Betty frowned, because that was the name of the guy that Polly had mentioned. So, Polly was dating a Blossom. "This is...A really small world," she said slowly, and Veronica smirked.

"Think about it," she grinned. "If me and Cheryl are still together when Polly and Jason tie the knot or whatever, then we'll basically be sisters as well."

"Married?" Betty's eyebrows raised up high and Veronica laughed, because Cheryl had a similar expression on her face.

"Hey, I'm just looking further down the track," she shrugged. "You never know."

"Right, well, I think that might be something far, far down the track," Cheryl cleared her throat and got up from the table to pour more of her smoothie into her tall glass. "Anyway, we're all set for the drive in tonight? We can just take my car down there, and then walk in to meet Archie and the rest of the boys."

"We don't have to actually drive a car in?" Betty asked.

"No," Cheryl answered long-sufferingly. "We can park it outside and just walk in and sit in the back of Archie's truck."

"The movie starts at seven, so we'll leave here just after six," Veronica said.

"Oh, I forgot to ask, what movie is playing?" Betty picked up another pastry, making a mental note to text her sister after checking her Facebook for this photo that Cheryl was talking about.

" _Rebel Without A Cause_ ," Veronica answered with a smile. "One of Jughead's favourites."

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment below, they're what keep me going!


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